Acheron: Infinitas
by Yami Nocturna
Summary: As the end of the Sailor Wars goes wrong, the Senshi are reborn in a new world. A world where Shadow Realm is starting to wake up again. Yet it seems that more is at play in this strange world were nothing seems to make sense. UsagiYami.HotaBakura YGOSM
1. Part I: A New Beginning: Prologue

_**06/07/2010 – **__You know what, I am horrible. I just revived this story. Yes! Yes! Yes! Probably none of you remember it, but a long time ago I had the Acheron series. YGOSM crossover. An epic crossover with grand ideas, which I deleted cause the plothole bunnies ate too many holes in it. So now I revived it, in order to get back some inspiration.

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_

_Definite pairings:_

_Yami Yugi/Usagi_

_Yami Bakura/Hotaru_

_Jounoochi/Mai_

_Other… I don't remember at the moment, when I lay out the prequel for this one, since it's supposed to be in two parts, present and past. Both stories with two parts in it. So, when I lay the past out, again correctly, like I had back then, with minor corrections, then I suppose more pairings will start to appear when it will become clear.

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**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s

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**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Prologue

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**

"_Please, let everything be alright."

* * *

_

"You really don't have to travel by boat to Domino and then back here?" The cool and collected voice noted. Usagi looked up at her father and shrugged nonchalantly, "I just feel, that it is necessary," she spoke.

"But, I can't let go of my beloved daughter," whined her father whimsically as he trotted over and hugged her, weeping all the while.

"Otou-san!" exclaimed Usagi angrily, starting to push her father away, her father took her hands and held them, making huge puppy dog eyes at her.

"Promise me, you'll call Sarutawari, if necessary, he'll beat off all of those annoying boys!" begged the golden eyed man. Usagi sighed, and hugged her father, muttering, "Okay, dad, I will, I will. Now can I continue packing?" her father nodded downcast and took a step back as Usagi continued packing her bag.

* * *

"Welcome chosen duelists to the Duel Monsters Tournament hosted by Industrial Illusions!" announced a man. As Yugi looked up, he noted that the man had a very strange hairdo, a hairdo even pointier than his friend Honda had. He chuckled lightly at the man, and then looked around. All kind of people were gathered, and most were pretty well known, as champions from all around Japan. A flash of gold caught his attention and he turned around, seeing a girl in a simple white dress standing a few feet away from him chatting merrily with a black haired girl.

The blonde girl pointed to the pointy haired man and the two girls erupted in giggles once more. Lightly smiling Yugi turned his attention back to the announcer.

"You all have been chosen by us as superior duelists from your performance in previous tournaments. Everyone has an equal chance to win. Now, bright halos of glory shine around each of your heads," the melodramatic statement earned another round of giggles from the two girls, and several duelists around them shushed them.

"Well then, duelists, let's cross the ocean to the kingdom, where you will earn your glory!" At the final words the crowd erupted in cheers and Yugi went into the line standing right behind the two girls.

"Sarutawari is always to dramatic!" giggled the girl with short black hair to her shoulders and violet eyes the same hue as his own.

"Nah, Hotaru-chan, he just thinks that he's a knight in shining armor," teased the blonde girl. She had long blonde hair in two buns with long streamers that fell to her knees, almost in awe Yugi wanted to touch the girl, something dark pushing him away from his conscious but as he battled it, he just stood primly behind the two girls.

'_Show your starchips and come aboard'_

The girls hurriedly pulled out two star chips, and Yugi followed their lead, they were close to the stand which handed out gloves when the shouts from a very familiar voice interrupted the orderly situation.

"Where are your starchips?"

"Hey! Don't be so strict! Let me go aboard!" 'Jounoochi' breathed out Yugi lightly as he looked in surprise, seeing as two guards were dragging Jounoochi away.

"Let me go! I'm a firend of the superior duelist who defeated Kaiba, Yugi Mutou!" exclaimed Katsuya, trying to kick at the security, which only angered the suited guys more.

"Don't make any crazy moves," ordered one of the security and both of them took a tighter grip on Jounoochi's hands. Yugi darted out of the crowd, barely noting that the two girls followed him.

"Wait," exclaimed Yugi as he ran up to Jounoochi, nodding to his friend's greeting 'Yo, Yugi', "Who are you?" asked one of the security guards gruffily.

"I am Yugi Mutou, and he is my friend, he's with me," spoke Yugi determinedly.

"I'm sorry, but the rules state that only people with star chips may come on board," spoke one of the suited men.

"He has a star chip!" spoke Yugi, as he quickly pulled out a star chip and handed it to Jounoochi. The blonde's eyes softened in response to the generous gesture, "I don't mind being at disadvantage, I want to travel with my friend," he spoke kindly.

"But… a duelist must have two star chips, I have to call Crawford-san!" spoke the guard starting to dial a number.

"Wait!" spoke a bright voice suddenly and as Yugi turned around, he saw the same girls which caught his attention during the announcement. "I believe that it will be alright, right, Kenji-san?" she asked smiling sweetly. For a moment Yugi believed that something else was hidden behind this sweet smile, something dangerous, but he disregarded it.

"Wah, Usagi-sama?" exclaimed the guard, who was now identified as Kenji letting Jounoochi go and dropping the hand, which held the phone.

"Are you sure?" inquired politely the other guard, and Yugi was left wondering why the two brutal looking guards were covering in front of this petite girl, who was a tad taller than he was.

"I am pretty sure. Now let them in," spoke cheerfully the blonde, as her friend grabbed Jounoochi's hand and dragged him back into the line, which suddenly seemed to part in front of them.

"Em…" Yugi was speechless for a moment, until he remembered that polite thanks were in order, "Yes?" inquired the blonde girl.

"Thanks… I am…"

"Yugi Mutou!" exclaimed the girl cheerfully, "I know! That was a very nice thing of you to do. I am Usagi!" she smiled and followed quickly her black haired friend, who was dragging Jounoochi to the ship.

* * *

"Usagi-chan, this is so comfortable, I'm lucky that I don't have to stay in the communal room," sighed out Hotaru as she dropped back onto the bed. She spread out her hands and sighed in content. Usagi walked dropped her bag onto a chair and smiled gently at Hotaru. Hotaru Kujaku was one of her best friends, but alas the only one played Duel Monsters just as she did. That was how they ended traveling to Duel Monsters. Of course she didn't mind sharing her own private room with Hotaru-chan. Rules, were rules and only champions of the regional championships were awarded rooms, but no rules were made for Usagi Crawford. She giggled lightly as she flopped down next to the girl dressed in purple. Her outfit was very similar to that of her sister Mai Kujaku, only more modest. But now that she thought of Mai…

"Hey, Hotaru-chan, don't you think we must invite Mai-san here? I mean, I'm sure she feels uncomfortable in the communal room, with now shower and no mirror."

Hotaru snorted and replied nonchalantly: "I'm sure she has already gotten a room for herself," but as the black-haired girl looked at Usagi's pleading face she almost immediately gave up.

Jumping up and straightening her clothes, she grabbed Usagi's hand and hauled her up. "Well, then, let's go find my sister," Hotaru spoke joyfully, at the immediate glow of happiness which appeared on Usagi's face. The two ventured out strolling through all the communal rooms, trying to find Mai.

"I'm telling you, Usagi, she probably already weaseled herself into some duelist's room and kicked him out," whined Hotaru, as they passed the tenth communal room, where all the duelists were exchanging their cards.

"Never give up, Hotaru-chan," chirped Usagi, as she took her black-haired comrade's hand and dragged her off to the last communal room block. The violet-eyed teen sighed relenting to the blonde's urging. But just as she predicted Mai was nowhere to find.

"Hotaru-chan, you're sister is so cunning, I wish to be more like her," said Usagi in awe realizing that Hotaru's predicament was true. But Hotaru hugged her and whispered, "Never become like her. You're forwardness is your best feature, you never lie."

Usagi blinked for a second in surprise and then gently smiled returning the hug.

She had met Hotaru when she was very young and was attending according to her overprotective father's wishes an all-girls school. Hotaru was one of the first girls who really became friends with her, and not because she was the daughter of the head of Industrial Illusions. The others were still overseas in that school. _'Ami-chan… Makoto-chan… Minako-chan…' _At least Hotaru was here with her, or Usagi would feel very lonely without her friends.

The two separated and smiled at each other, but just as they were turning to leave a distraught scream alerted them. It was just outside the door leading to the deck of ship. The curiosity got of course the better of the two girls and they walked carefully to the door. Insector Haga walked past them snickering evilly and as Usagi and Hotaru walked out they saw Yugi and Jounoochi, the two guys who got into some trouble. Yugi was leaning over the edge and just as they walked over, planning to find out what happened, Jounoochi jumped over the edge and into the dark waters.

"Jounoochi-kun! The cards aren't worth drowning for!" shouted Yugi desperately.

"Yugi-san, what happened?" asked Usagi, running over to the ledge and looking down in distraught barely seeing Jounoochi straggling with the currents.

"Usagi-san?" asked Yugi in surprise, as he turned around, he also nodded in greeting to Hotaru, "Hotaru-san, Usagi-san, Insector Haga threw overboard my Exodia cards which were given to me by Grandpa, but Jounoochi-kun jumped overboard!"

"Jounoochi-san!" yelled Hotaru suddenly, "I'm going to throw the ring, the cards aren't worth drowning for!" she quickly ran over to the safety ring attached to the wall of the deck and yanked it off throwing it down. But Jounoochi still valiantly refused any help, as he dived again.

Usagi's heart raced for a moment, hoping that Jounoochi would listen to her friend's and Yugi's advice. Cards were expendable, but human life wasn't.

"There are things that must be protected at all costs," echoed to them Jounoochi's shout just before he dove again. Usagi felt a little relieved, but for how long, she wondered, as her blue eyes searched the surface for any source of Jounoochi. Soon the sandy-haired teen surfaced once more, but he was surely tired.

"No," whispered Hotaru in shock, as they saw Jounoochi frantically battle the waves, but slowly starting to sink, and the next moment Yugi Mutou dove right after his friend.

"Hotaru-chan, what can we do?" whispered Usagi in shock, as she saw her two new acquaintances frantically but without avail fighting the cruel sea. Tears began to form in Usagi's eyes.

'_Sometimes you are so passionate about complete strangers…'_

"There was a rope ladder somewhere over there, we need to throw it down," spoke Hotaru with a resolution, as she marched over to the dark corner on the deck she saw two more people, who had already thrown down the ladder.

"Are they alright?" she asked quietly, and at the hesitant nod of a girl with brown hair and a similar cut she sighed in relief. Hotaru ran back to Usagi, and shook the girl who was already in tears and babbling about Yugi-san and Jounoochi-san drowning, apparently Hotaru-s previous words of a ladder did not go through to Usagi's brain.

"Usagi-chan, they're fine, look, they're already on board," she spoke gently, trying to pry away Usagi's hands from her face. "Really?" came a faint whisper as Usagi slowly moved her hands away and looked in disbelief to where Hotaru was motioning and sure enough Yugi and Jounoochi were breathing heavily on their knees, dripping from head to toe and shivering. And they were smiling. And they were laughing. Those idiots!

"You idiots! You had us worried!" shouted Usagi indignantly to them, all worry receding from her mind, as she saw the shivering boys. The two boys froze and stared at her as if in shock.

"She's right, you know!" spoke sternly the brown-haired girl. "What were you thinking!" she smacked both of them upside their heads, but at their apologetic expressions she knelt down and hugged them. "Don't do that ever again!" she whispered vehemently.

"Let's go, Usagi-chan," spoke Hotaru suddenly, feeling as if she were intruding something private and not for their eyes. These boys had their own friends to take care of them.

"But…" Hotaru turned to look at Usagi. No. She knew that look. The puppy dog eyes, the girl seemed to have inherited from her father. Usagi shot a quick glance at Jounoochi and Yugi who were shivering and back at her. Hotaru sighed. It would be cramped, six people in one room, but…

'I can't say no to that look,' thought Hotaru sardonically, "Fine, Usagi, invite them."

Immediately the blonde-haired girl, who so often reminded her of a rabbit, appropriate name too, skipped over to the quartet of friends.

"Mmm… I was thinking, you are soaked, and…" Usagi shot a quick glance to the brown-haired girl whose name she didn't know, "your friend would surely like a possibility to shower and use the facilities," she fiddled with her fingers looking down and flushing slightly as the four of them turned their attention to her, "but if you would like, you can stay in our room."

"Really?" exclaimed the girl excitedly, "Oh, gods, I can go to the toilet!" she cheered, "I am Anzu Mazaki!" exclaimed the girl cheerfully, "I wouldn't mind staying, but are you sure, you want this lecher in your room," the girl shot an annoyed glance to the boy whose pointy hair was similar to that of father's guard Saruwatari and Usagi giggled slightly, as the boy became red at Anzu-san's statement.

"Anzu, I am no lecher!" he shouted at his friend, and then bowed with a charming smile to Usagi, "I am Honda Hiroto, and I am no lecher my fair lady."

"Usagi-san, are you sure we won't intrude?" inquired Yugi hesitantly, but Usagi grabbed his hand and spoke in an assuring tone, "I insist Yugi-san. You are soaked. You might catch a cold. So what do you say?"

Yugi looked back at his friends and at their nods in agreement, he confirmed, "Alright, Usagi-san, lead the way!"

Usagi cheered jumping up and down, "I am so happy. But call me Usagi-chan!"

"Only if you call me, Yugi-kun."

And the two went away chattering happily.

"Is it just me, or do you guys also see them akin to Happy Bears?" suddenly spoke up Jounoochi blinking in surprise at the instant match Usagi and Yugi found in each other.

"Happy Bears… I was thinking more along the lines of Teletubbies," replied mirthfully Hotaru. The quartet broke out in laughing, tears streaming from their eyes. Forcing down her giggles, Anzu spoke: "But, it's really nice of you to invite us."

Hotaru smiled softly, "That's just the way Usagi is. She is nice to everyone, even if people use her," her tone became dark for a second and as she glared at the three of Yugi's friends, she almost growled, "Hurt her, and not even Death will save you from my wrath!" The trio paled and Hotaru smirked.

"Just kidding…" The trio sighed in relief.

"But still… remember it," her tone became dark again as the trio blanched once more, scooting slightly away from the dark-haired teen. This caused Hotaru to start laughing again, the trio hesitantly joining her with nervous giggles.

"Guuuuys! Come ooon!" the wind carried Usagi's yell. Yugi and Usagi were already by the entrance of the hall which lead to the private rooms. "Well, better hurry," chirped Hotaru, leisurely taking off towards Usagi.

* * *

'_Luna, have you found the girls yet?'_

"I've found Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. But no trace of Mars and Moon. The outers are as always… but the girls said that Saturn must be with Sailor Moon."

'_We need to find Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. Darkness is approaching, Luna you know it.'_

"I know, Artemis, I know. But Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn are somewhere away. Not even Mercury, Venus and Jupiter know their location."

'_Hmm… alright… Luna, tell me their names and I'll try to find out more information. You continue to search for the outer Senshi.'_

"Alright. Usagi S. Crawford and Hotaru Kujaku are their names in this life. Good luck to you, Artemis…"

'_Good luck to you too, Luna…'_

Click.

The black haired woman sighed and put away the communicator into her bag. And as she looked up at the moon, she could faintly see the shadow of something malevolent. She could feel it too. The darkness was approaching.

* * *

Deep within the puzzle the ancient pharaoh stirred. Something familiar was very near. Something that stirred a strange feeling inside of him. The feeling of warmth. The light that Yugi provided was nothing compared to the new sensation. This time he felt as if he was standing in front of Ra's all-seeing eyes. The spirit summoned his incorporeal body to the outside realm and looked around, he was in a strange room. As he scanned Yugi's memories, he angrily noted that Exodia had been thrown out and swore that he would get his revenge on Insector Haga. Yugi's friends seemed to be alright, and Yugi seemed to be content in this warm room, despite the soaked clothes.

The ancient pharaoh cast a glance to the bed which was occupied by two girls, one with black hair and the other one with long blonde hair. Involuntarily he floated over to them and reached out to touch the blonde, mentally berating him, for this momentous desire. He was naught but a spirit, he wouldn't be able to touch her at all. But when his fingers met her forehead, as if they were solid and when a strange spark passed from her to him, he pulled away his fingers in disbelief, staring in shock at the blonde.

'_Impossible… how is it…'_

Hesitantly he reached out again to touch her cheek, indulging in this whim, and when his fingers felt warmth he gasped. But when the girl moaned softly, and asked in gibberish words, what Hotaru wanted, the spirit quickly retreated back into the puzzle, briefly noting that the girl's eyes fluttered open revealing bright blue eyes.

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**End Prologue

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**

_**06/07/2010 – **__The reason why I deleted the old story, because too much was focused on the battles in the cards. But this time the battles will be not that important, not taking up a lot of words. Rather the story this time will focus on the relationships between characters._

**_So review please if you like it, cause waking up an old zombie and making it into a nice story is really hard, and I want to know, whether it is worth the effort._**


	2. 1: The Duelist Kingdom's Princess

_**23/07/2010 – **__Well so far so good. I'm collecting bits and pieces of this story, also searching for any illustrations I had done for this, so as to feel the characters more. Well, here you go second entry to Acheron: Infinitas. Be sure to check out the prequel to this story set in the past: Acheron: Originis._

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Thank to all those who reviewed, C2d, favourited this story: **kurai98 **(oh, yes, I have already remembered some of them, they are now listed at the bottom, and the thing is, that there will be more, it scares me a bit =D), **Sesshy's Mistress **(awww, thank you darling, it means a lot), **angel313 **(I hope I update my other stories too, -chuckles-, do not fret, all will happen, when it must happen), **brittanyann200242**, **SailorMoonRocks1433**

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**_Names (first name is highlighted):_**

_**Ryuji**__ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi__** Katsuya **__(Joey Wheeler)_

_**Shizuka**__ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

_**Anzu**__ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

_**Honda **__Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

_**Pegasus **__J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

_**Cyndia **__Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

_**Sugoroku **__Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

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**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

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**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 1**

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"_I am Sailor Moon! In the name of Selene, I will not let you wreak chaos again!" announced a girl with long golden hair, her bright blue eyes narrowed at her opponent who only laughed in response._

"_I know who you are, Sailor Moon. You are a newly awakened Senshi, the first Senshi of the Moon. I don't believe you can be a match to me. I have been in more wars that you can imagine," spoke the red-haired man haughtily. But the golden haired female in the strange uniform wasn't phased by his announcement. She just extended her hand and a staff formed in her hand._

_The staff was one foot higher than she was herself and it ended in a malicious looking crescent shaped blade._

"_Then you didn't hear the prophecy. It is said that Sailor Moon awakens only then when our peaceful ways are simply not enough," a smirk crossed her pale pink lips and she swirled the tall staff around, "and we must kick your ass!"_

_With that the female charged._

* * *

"Yuugi-kun! Anzu-san! Jounoochi-san! Honda-san! Wake up! Wake up! We're here!"

In the early morning it was Usagi who had woken up uncharacteristically early. Hotaru groaned and buried herself under the covers, wishing they would have arrived that early. Yet her blonde friend pounced on her and chirped: "Hotaru-chan! We're here!"

Several groans were heard from all over the room. First it was Honda, who uncomfortably shifting on the floor blinked sleepily, muttering something along the lines, 'Mom, let me sleep some more…'. To his left side sprawled out like a star laid Jounoochi, who didn't seem to awake even as Usagi was shouting for everyone to wake up.

"Have we finally arrived?" murmured Anzu rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, as she sat up in the armchair, which she had occupied the night, having been too shy to accept Usagi's invitation to share her and Hotaru's bed. She kicked Yugi who was still soundly sleeping in the armchair across of her, yet the boy groaned and curled up again.

"Yugi! Wake up!" hissed Anzu kicking the crazy haired boy again. Once more he just curled up even more. The brunette stifled a growl, as she stood up. She stared at Yugi for a couple of moments, and then the idea came.

"Anzu-chan! What are you doing!" shouted Yugi in indignation, as his cheeks were flushed red. Hotaru peeked out from beneath her covers to see the commotion, and even Jounoochi woke up. There was Anzu, sitting on top of Yugi.

"Usagi-san, help me too!" spoke the girl, as she noted that Yugi didn't want to wake up yet, even under her weight still blinking sleepily, although a bit angry at the intrusion into his sleep kingdom. The blonde blinked and the grinned cheerfully, skipping over to Yugi and sitting down on him beside Anzu. This woke Yugi up immediately.

The boy stuttered and flushed to a new level of color red, as he begged: "Anzu-chan, Usagi-chan, please get off me! You're hurting my ribs and… and…" his eyes shifted, as he became even more red and looked down.

"Will you wake up?" demanded Anzu angrily.

"I will! I will!"

"You are so loud!" whined Hotaru.

"You! Wake up too! Or I'll sit on you too!" cheered Usagi, as she giggled, while Yugi struggled to breathe under her and Anzu's weight. And Hotaru buried herself under the covers once more.

* * *

The island at the horizon was becoming larger and larger, the more the ship approached the dock of Duelist Kingdom. The company that was with Yugi was serious and quite a bit somber, while Usagi and Hotaru were pretty much excited.

"Well, we're here!" spoke Yugi solemnly.

"Yes, the duelist kingdom," whispered Anzu sadly and Usagi peered over at them in wonder. Why were they so grave? This was all just a game. Everyone should have fun and not stare at the island, as if it was a place where life and death met.

"Oi, don't make such serious faces. This is just a fun game!" the blonde exclaimed angrily. Her new friends looked at her slightly shaken, and then smiled all uneasily. But it was them, who spoke. It was Hotaru.

"Yeah… a fun game," she whispered her eyes fixated on the castle that Usagi's father was at. The others were also looking at Hotaru strangely.

"Something wrong?" Usagi asked, concern in her voice.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," was Hotaru's nonchalant reply, as she held to the railings, waiting for the ship to finally come to a stop. Anzu looked between her friends and the two girls obviously distraught by the slight shift forming between them. The ship came to a halt and the guards were hurrying in the dock, preparing everything for the people to come down.

"Oi, Anzu, what should we do if they start checking for star chips again?" whispered Honda feverishly, a he pulled her hand and pointed at the security who was everywhere, "We snuck in…" he whined.

"It's okay, they won't be constantly checking…" muttered Anzu, as her blue eyes scanned the behavior of the guards. What if Honda was right and they would be caught. Suddenly someone touched her and she jumped, turning around she saw violet eyes, for a moment she thought of Yugi, but shaking off the reverie, she giggled nervously to Hotaru, thinking of some sort of explanation.

"Just don't act nervous, and stick close to Usagi, I'm sure they will let you pass," spoke the black-haired girl evenly. The girl didn't explain her words and just turned away and started walking away.

"Why should we stay close to Usagi?" shouted Anzu. Hotaru turned around and stared strangely at her and then smirked.

"Let's just say… she's a very important guest here… the guards who'd bother her, would be fired immediately."

"Hotaru-chan!" Anzu turned around to see Usagi fuming at what Hotaru said. She barely comprehended the reasons behind Usagi's apparent anger. But why was Usagi so important? She could be a star with that long blonde hair of hers, but then she would have definitely recognized her. Even teen idols rarely had such long, lustrous hair. It was simply impossible to take care of them, go to school and do house chores.

"Wow, it's so cool, Usagi-san? Are you maybe a princess?" exclaimed Honda suddenly, jumping over to Usagi and taking her hands in his hands, as he sweet-talked to the flushing girl, "You certainly look like one!" Smack! "Ow, what was that for, Anzu?"

"Nothing, you big-headed moron!" fumed Anzu, as she dragged him away from the flushing Usagi, who quickly thanked the brunette, happy that the boy was off of her. All the while Hotaru glared at Honda. Yugi laughed nervously and suggested they move off the ship.

"Haha, yea, something like a princess…" whispered Usagi, as Yugi called her once more, she grinned and skipped after the boy with the eyes the color of hyacinths. "Oh well, let's go off!" the blonde girl muttered to no one but herself.

* * *

Hotaru knew that look on Usagi's face. It was the look when her princess was annoyed with something. Or someone. And no wonder. In none of her lives did Usagi like when people treated her like she was someone above them. And now all of her father's guards were saluting her.

"Good morning, Miss Usagi."

"Good morning, Miss Usagi."

"They're all saluting to you. Weren't you supposed not to be recognized by them?" whispered Hotaru to Usagi, careful that their new acquaintances wouldn't hear them. Usagi just wanted to come here and play simply, without people avoiding her, because she was the daughter of the creator of Duel Monsters.

"Idiots, ignoring father's order. Just probably trying to get into my good graces!" whispered Usagi furiously, as she clenched her fists. Hotaru glanced quickly behind them, noting that Jounoochi's and Yugi's curiosity would soon without doubt reach the limit.

"Miss Usagi, do you need any help?" Hotaru turned around and angrily examined another guard. This one was really asking for trouble. At least the other ones didn't come up; they greeted Usagi from their spot, at least partially following Mr. Crawford's orders not to interfere with Usagi's fun time.

"No, I don't," spoke Usagi suddenly in a very calm and serene voice. For a second Hotaru's heart panged, she knew that kind of voice. It was Princess Serenity. "I would sincerely appreciate if you wouldn't bother me like that, or follow me. Father's orders…" continued Usagi speaking, _(no, not her),_ it was not Princess Serenity, just this time Usagi grew up in a slightly different environment, where her father was the owner of Industrial Illusions and with that came the weight of proper behavior in society.

"F-f-f-father's?" spluttered the guard nervously, Hotaru smirked, this one was certainly new, "Yes, milady!" he saluted her quickly making his leave, probably not wanting to risk his job anymore than he already had. The Yugi-tachi, as Hotaru had taken to calling them ever so fondly, was gaping, still in shock from the scene that had just happened.

"Who is your father?" asked Anzu, as she stared at Usagi suspiciously, "He must be influential if Pegasus's security shivers like that at his mention."

Hotaru laughed nervously alongside with Usagi, as the mentioned girl giggling replied:

"Yes… something like that…"

"What are you, a Kaiba?" exclaimed Jounoochi, the two girls promptly burst out laughing.

"Definitely not!"

"Oh, look its Sarutawari!" exclaimed Hotaru, pointing to the man with strange hair.

"You know, he has hair like Honda-kun's," muttered Anzu, which caused the two girls to start laughing once more, as Honda growled angrily.

"Just as spiky," mentioned Jounoochi slapping his friend heartily on the back, ignoring the withering look the 'mini-Sarutawari' sent him.

"Ts. Let's listen!" spoke Yugi, as Sarutawari welcomed the duelists all around.

"Okay, Yugi-kun. But all he's going to say that the gathering place is at that castle," chimed Usagi, barely restraining her giggles.

"Ouch," Hotaru smacked Usagi upside the head, giving her a warning glare, as the girl giggled nervously, looking around, if anyone paid attention to that little slip up of her. But luckily for both of them, no one paid heed to their small exchange.

"Duelists. Welcome to Duelist Kingdom. The castle gate is the gathering place," announced Sarutawari. Yugi and Jounoochi shared a glance.

"You were right!"

"Of course," replied Hotaru to Anzu, as she turned off to start the long and tedious walk up the stairs. Sometimes Pegasus was just too eccentric.

"Let's go!" cheered Usagi, grabbing Yugi's and Anzu's hands, dragging the two up after her. Usagi was always the same, no matter what face she wore, what clothes she was garbed in. A delicate smile made its way to Hotaru's lips as she slowly followed the group, trailing quietly after Jounoochi and Honda.

She still remembered when she first met Usagi in this life. She had been attending an all-girls school in London, when the blonde had first transferred, they immediately became friends, and Usagi quickly joined their group of friends. Ami Mizuno, Makoto Otogi and Minako Aino. It never came to her as weird back then, she just thought it was simply fated, that the five of them meet and become good friends. How right she was. Not even month passed when a monster had appeared in their room.

* * *

"_What is it, Mako-chan?" muttered Hotaru sleepily, as she heard through sleep a scream, slowly she opened her eyes and all she saw were glowing yellow orbs surrounded by darkness. A dark blue hand lifted her from the bed and threw into the corner. That was where the other four huddled, on their faces despair and fear had deeply embedded. And only there Hotaru saw the intruder clearly, as the moonlight highlighted the indescribable monster._

_It was bold and slightly resembled a blue skinned female, who wore a dark violet partial armor, in her hand she held a broken doll and her eyes were black and yellow irises glowed eerily._

"_It can't be, it's a dream," whispered Usagi frantically, "It cannot be Dark Necrofear. It is just a dream…" the girl was trembling, while Makoto held the blonde, trying to appear strong, but she too was scared._

"_Master will be happy. In one place five bright shining stars gathered," the monster's voice was hollow and resonating, and Hotaru shivered._

"_Who are you? What do you want?" exclaimed Minako, even though she tried to make her voice steady, it faltered as the female's eyes wandered to her._

"_I am Dark Necrofear. My Master has sent me to retrieve the Pharaoh's light. And master will be getting back his pretty bird too," with those words the yellow eyes shifted and Hotaru barely suppressed a shudder, a wave of darkness that crept over her._

"_But imagine my surprise when I found three more of you, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus," those words confused her friends, but strangely they seemed comforting and familiar to her. And a strange sense of confidence took over her mind, as if in a trance Hotaru stood up extended her hand and called out the words, called out to her destiny._

"_Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!" a bright violet light embraced their room and in shock her four friends stared at her, as there stood Hotaru only dressed differently. A white fuku embraced her lithe body, complete with a violet collar and violet skirt of two hues. The first layer of the skirt was lavender, the second was violet, the same color as her collar. On her chest was a violet star-shaped gem holding a dark brown bow together. At her back was a lavender bow, complete with violet ribbons streaming down from it to her knees. In shock Hotaru reached out to her shoulders and felt the soft fabric of the lavender puffy sleeves, she stared at the white gloves, touched her neck where a familiar choker was placed by the magic, she knew that the golden star in the center of the choker was no doubt present. Finally she touched her forehead, where the cold metal of her golden tiara chilled her troubled mind, and as if on cue the memories returned._

"_Hotaru-chan? What's happening?" whispered Usagi, in shock as she stared at her. Minako and Makoto were speechless and Ami was muttering something along the lines of magic not being real, not logical, not scientifically explained. Dark Necrofear stood her ground, slightly interested in the magical change which happened. Sailor Saturn turned to smile reassuringly to Usagi and turned back to the enemy._

"_Monster!" announced Sailor Saturn confidently, "I do not know who you are, and why you are here, but I will not let you get the princess! I am Sailor Saturn, soldier of silence!" she extended her hand and the familiar feeling of power embraced her and the Silence Glaive formed out of thin air._

"_Silence Glaive Surprise!" announced Saturn quietly and a violet sphere slammed into the monster, causing it to disappear immediately. Sailor Saturn scanned the room warily, and only once she was sure all was fine, she turned back to her friends. They showed no sign of recognizing her, which probably meant that they were not reawakening soon._

"_That was so cool, Hotaru-chan!" exclaimed Minako, grinning at her, "You are a superhero! And we are your friends! So cool!" the girl giggled nervously._

"_Don't worry, we'll keep your secret," spoke Makoto carefully. And Saturn smiled sadly, they would definitely keep this secret. As she summoned the Saturn Crystal, the Senshi muttered a simple spell. A spell which would wipe their minds._

_Solemnly the Sailor Senshi watched as her friends eyes closed and they fell asleep._

"_Just rest for some more. Especially you Usagi," the soldier's gaze drifted to Usagi, who even as she was sprawled out on the floor, still looked like the princess who had won their hearts long ago, "I remember dying in the battle with Galaxia. But if we were reborn, then you would have had to die to. Perhaps, it is better for you to sleep some more."_

* * *

After that Hotaru of course started searching for the other Outer Senshi. But there had been no sign of Uranus, Neptune nor Pluto, which was definitely weird. Finally Hotaru decided to investigate the enemy. The name Dark Necrofear had seemed to Usagi familiar, so once the black-haired girl had been completely sure, Usagi had no memories of the night, when she was reawakened, she inquired.

That was how she ended up in the Duelist Kingdom. Usagi had told her that it was a Duel Monster, a game her father brought from Egypt. She even offered to teach Hotaru the game, and invite Hotaru to the tournament which would be soon happening. It was then that Hotaru remembered the game her sister played. She agreed, deciding that a place where the most prominent duelists gathered would be a perfect place to search for someone, who could _bring the monsters to life_!

And of course it still irked her, that the game was from Egypt, and Dark Necrofear as she was speaking about Usagi, wanted to steal the light from the Pharaoh. Hotaru was sure that in none of their lives they had met a Pharaoh.

'_But we were sometimes wrong also. We thought we knew something for sure, only to find out that they knowledge was implanted to protect us from the truth,' _a voice in the back of her head supplied, and the black-haired girl frowned. She remembered that time, in their last life, when the Death Busters came. They had taken over her father, and her father implanted Mistress 9 within her. Back then she had been unaware of that in her regular life, because her mind forced the painful memories away.

So deep in her thoughtswas the Senshi of Silence, that she never noticed Jounoochi coming to a sudden stop, and the girl's face met his back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" questioned Hotaru. The group was staring at Anzu, who was strangely staring into the woods a bit further away.

"What is it?" asked Yugi.

"I just saw Bakura again!" replied the brunette, never taking her eyes off the forest.

"Who's Bakura?" The name seemed familiar to Hotaru. In fact her soul told her that she should remember him, but her mind found no answers to that.

"A friend," murmured Anzu, as Usagi leaned over the railings and examined the forest.

"But there's no one there," supplied the blonde, worriedly looking at Anzu, who sighed and massaged her temples: "I must be seeing things. Don't worry, a bit of rest and I'll be fine."

Wordlessly they took off once more, and once they arrived, Hotaru dragged Usagi away; she had some things to talk about with Usagi. Things that their friends shouldn't be knowing. As Hotaru glanced down at her glove, which had to star chips: the small fact that no one should no, that she was a Player Killer. A person hired by Pegasus to knock the players out of the tournament.

"Guys, we'll go look around, if we get separated, let's meet at the finals then!" Usagi waved cheerfully to the group, as she was dragged away.

"Bye, Usagi-chan, Hotaru-san!"

"Bye, bye, Yugi-chan, Honda-san, Anzu-chan, Jounoochi-san."

* * *

"Do you think they'll make it?" asked Hotaru, once they were a safe distance away from all duelists, as she looked back at the group, who was far away enough, not to hear their dialogue.

"That is Yugi, the one who defeated Kaiba!" exclaimed Usagi cheerfully, as her eyes glazed over. Hotaru recognized that look in Usagi's eyes. It was the same intensity, as Sailor Moon had in the battles. Usagi wanted to duel Yugi.

"You certainly sound eager to defeat him," mentioned the black-haired girl offhandedly. Usagi grinned cheekily at her, and twirling a strand of golden hair inquired:

"What about you? Whom do you want to defeat?"

Hotaru frowned. Sure, at first she wanted to just take part in the tournament, eager to investigate, but when Pegasus's father, after seeing her duel a London duelist, who had insulted Usagi decided to hire her, Hotaru had no qualms about that. "I am a Player Killer, Usagi-chan. I will not start dueling until the evening."

"Will you eliminate me too?" Hotaru smirked at Usagi, who was looking at her with an expression of a curious rabbit and a snake who was ready for a strike. There was one thing that was different from the past life. In the past life Usagi worked as a Sailor Senshi hard to receive the same amount of confidence, she already had in this life.

"I don't think it would be possible for me to do that," spoke Hotaru, her eyes shifting to the deck Usagi always wore in the deck holder on her belt. That deck at first shocked her to no end, after she had been awakened, of course. Because that deck consisted of cards solely connected to the Sailor Senshi. Even the magic cards were all connected, all the cards were interlaced, in fact, just like their team was always together, and behind each other in soul and heart, if they couldn't be physically there, all the cards Usagi had supported each other, and most importantly: the Soldier of the Moon.

"After all… you have the most special deck of them all," murmured Hotaru fondly.

"Ha, silly papa, making me a deck of cards from the dream stories I had in the childhood," laughed Usagi, as she waved her hand. That was how it went. Even before Usagi met any of their team, she had dreams of her past life and her father, being a man, utterly dedicated to his only daughter, once he had created the game, created these special cards. Only one of each card existed in the whole world. He named it the Guardian Deck.

"I think it's nice," grinned Hotaru, just as all the people around them erupted in cheers. The two friends raised their heads and sure enough it was Pegasus at the balcony. The man grinned at all the people and in his most boastful tone announced: "Welcome to the duelist kingdom!"

"Melodramatic as always," murmured Usagi giggling to Hotaru. The violet-eyed girl nodded distractedly; there was something strange about Pegasus. She had noticed something unsettling about him the first time they met, but she had shaken it away back then, since the feeling was very small and insignificant. But now that strange energy had grown. There was something definitely wrong happening around.

"I will explain the rules now! All duels will be using Duel Monster cards. Everyone starts at 2000 life points. No direct attack on the players. Everyone please use the best cards you brought and enjoy the battle."

But maybe everything was alright, and she was wrong. But once more her attention was glued to the side of his face, which was covered by his hair. Usagi had once told her, he had a strange eye made for him in Egypt, to replace the eye he lost as a child. And the Senshi of Silence froze over.

"Each participant should have received a duel glove and two star chips."

Egypt. Once more Egypt. Pharaoh. Duel Monsters. Somehow everything was tied to that, and she was sure they connected to it also somehow. She had to be on her guard and protect the princess, but she couldn't let Usagi find out about her true reasons to come here. Usagi still hadn't awoken, and it would be dangerous to involve the girl in Senshi business, while her soul was still resting.

"On the glove ring there are ten holes for you to fill with star chips. Your star chips are the proof of your status as a duelist. In each duel you will bet your star chips."

And now Hotaru felt satisfied that she was a Player Killer. Like that she had all the right to prowl practically anywhere, and she would make sure to keep an eye on Pegasus too. If he was connected to Egypt, with that golden eyes of his…

'_Golden… Egypt…'_

Hotaru's gaze drifted over to Yugi's group in the distance. The golden upside down pyramid: could they be also connected to the monster who had appeared back then in their room? The girl frowned: she knew already from her past experiences that nobody met without a reason. Everyone met for one or other reason. She was sure that Mai sending her to that school overseas was also not a lucky coincidence. Perhaps it was fated for her to meet Usagi, Ami, Makoto and Minako back then.

If she hadn't been there, then Usagi no doubt would have been abducted and who knows what would have happened to the others.

"The whole island is a battle ground. The one who gathers ten star chips may enter through this door. The duels will begin in an hour. The time limit is 48 hours. Anyone who doesn't collect the star chips during this time is disqualified and forced to leave the Kingdom."

"So cruel… the island is huge, what if I get lost?" whined Usagi suddenly, bringing Hotaru out of her inner debate. The princess looked so cute, when she made the distraught childish face.

"Don't worry, Usagi-chan. I'll be with you," grinned Hotaru, as she hugged the older girl by her shoulders, the two girls giggled.

"Let's go find me a victim!" Usagi pumped her fist into the air.

"Usagi-chan! Don't say it with a smile like that! It's scary!" murmured Hotaru, although it amused her how Usagi could be so scary and at the same time bring joy to the people around her at the same time.

"But you know, that I am Usagi of the Faint Smile," spoke the heir of Industrial Illusions, a smile upon her lips, and Hotaru smacked her face with a palm. Not again with the anime fandom.

"I think you watched too much Claymore. And your smile is not faint. It's totally obvious!" lectured Hotaru, as she caught up to her friend, who was already skipping down the stairway, eager to find a person to duel.

Usagi frowned, but then lighting up she announced: "How about, Usagi of the Bright Smile?"

"Isn't Blitz Player enough for you?"

"Can't ruin my record of always playing with a smile!" chirped Usagi and the Senshi of Silence smiled lightly, ever so faintly at her princess's retreating figure. It was important, that Usagi would always smile. It was her smile that could be the single ray of sunshine, that would brighten anyone's day. Her smile was infectious and healing at the same time.

'_Always smile, Usagi-chan.'_

* * *

Usagi sighed as she twirled around, the hour was over and she was eager to find someone strong to duel. Dueling always made her feel as if she was in a battle. And somehow that thought exhilarated her. No, Usagi wasn't a girl who liked fighting, but sometimes it seemed as if memories from long ago took her over, and with that came the battle spirit. And that game, Duel Monsters, it seemed so familiar to her. Too familiar to her. She just didn't know, why she felt attracted to the simple card game that much. She heard steps behind and turned around, seeing a man in his twenties. He wore a Chinese kimono, and his hair was long and in a ponytail just at the base of his neck.

"What are the two ladies doing in such a manly place? Surely a battlefield is no place for such beautiful women?" spoke the man, and in his voice Usagi felt some sort of haughtiness. Beside her Hotaru tensed and glared darkly at the man.

"Surely a battlefield is no place for a man who underestimates the opponent by their appearance," spoke Hotaru darkly, as she frowned.

"It would have been true had you been a man. But no woman can beat me," Usagi frowned. She never liked such men, who thought women were inferior. Well she would have just to prove him wrong. Hotaru turned to her, her eyes burning maliciously.

"Chauvinist. Beat him up, Usagi-chan, or I'll eliminate him."

The blonde nodded, "I'll deal with this, Hotaru-chan."

"Duel with me! Or you shall be forever tainted by the stain of cowardice," announced Usagi with a smile, shifting completely into her dueling persona. She would never stop smiling, she always dueled with a smile.

"Woman! Do you know who I am? I am Lian Shen the Spellcaster! The champion of China!" His words were harsh and arrogant. And Usagi decided that she didn't like the man at all, but she wouldn't show him her anger and still smiling Usagi spoke:

"Ooh. That is you. I've heard about your deck. It's pretty cool, but nothing compared to mine!"

"You dare insult my cards? I ought to whip you into submission, but I'll go easy on you and duel you instead!" by then Lian Shen was pretty much out of it. In fact he was speaking in a rather agressive tone, almost shouting.

"That bastard. Have no mercy and go all out," muttered Hotaru, walking a bit away from them.

"Might I have the pleasure of knowing the name of the beautiful lady whom I shall defeat?" the black haired man mockingly bowed to Usagi, who narrowed her eyes in determination. She wouldn't be fazed by this man. She was the daughter of the creator of this game. A light smirk, not in the least taunting crossed her face, before she smiled brilliantly and spoke back.

"No, you may not. Because the only one who's going to loose is you," her words were spoken without any trace of doubt, as her bright blue eyes examined the man. He seemed to have been taken aback by her reply, not expecting the smile and the calm reply.

"Now, now, my lady. I am the champion of China, do you honestly think a mere woman can defeat me?" taunted Lian Shen cruelly. But not even his misogynistic statement did shake the blonde duelist, as she continued smiling at him.

"Let me tell you what they call me. There is a reason why I don't take part in the championships, because I am the Blitz Player. No later than by my third turn, I will have you decimated," said Usagi serenely. She never stopped smiling. This was her way.

"Stubborn woman!" shouted Lian Shen suddenly shaken by her statement. No doubt he was going over it, and wondering whether to believe it or not. A slight smirk crossed her lips, ever so carefully hidden, so as not to ruin her record of playing the game with a constant smile on her face.

"Let me tell you what. I'll let you have the first turn lest I win this game in the first turn," spoke Usagi cheerfully. Hotaru nodded to her from her side, and as if on cue a rumble was heard as the ground opened and from below appeared the stage at which they would be playing.

The battle field activated and Lian Shen glared angrily at the blonde: "I will not accept patronizing from a woman. You shall go first." He absolutely missed the satisfaction upon Usagi's face.

* * *

_Lian Shen: 2000_

_Usagi: 2000_

* * *

Both duelists drew their cards and Usagi cast a look at her hand. Her smile only grew. She had all the chances to end this duel in two turns. _Soldier of Fire, Soldier of Death, Moon Guardian, Child of Death, Ultimate Sacrifice. _If the right card would appear, she would win and he had no idea what would hit him, just as no one usually did. Not with these cards. She drew the card and it was Pot of Greed. Carefully considering she started her game.

"I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards from the deck." Usagi closed her eyes and drew two more cards. Usually it really depended on luck, but she usually had it. _Death's Sacrifice _and _Card Destruction. _Her smile only grew wider, she continued, placing Ultimate Sacrifice and Death's Sacrifice to the field face down, "I place two trap or spell cards facedown on the field and I place one monster facedown on the field. I end my turn." The upside down card with Child of Death (300/400) appeared on the field.

"Playing facedown cards? You know, that's beginner's tactic," crooned Lian Shen haughtily, as he drew his card and announced: "I place two spell or trap cards facedown and I summon Maha Vailo and I equip Fairy Meteor Crush to her!" Maha Vailo (1500/1400), the magician garbed completely in blue robes, appeared on the field, and flashed in magenta color, as on his pendant appeared what it seemed to be a glowing meteor rock. Immediately the monster's attack points grew from 1550 to 2050. "Maha Vailo, attack!" The magician charged forwards striking down at the face-down card. For a moment a black-haired female appeared on the field, garbed in a black robe, her face darkened by the shadows and only lavender eyes glowing furiously beneath the hood. She shrieked and vaporized, as she was sent to the graveyard.

* * *

_Lian Shen: 2000_

_Usagi: 350_

* * *

"They call me the crusher, for I easily decimate the opponent's life points. This battle will be over in less than three turns, when I shall win," spoke Lian Shen, pretty much assured of his victory, having destroyed most of Usagi's lifepoints in one turn. He ended his turn, and mock bowed to the blonde duelist. But not even for one second did Usagi's smile falter.

"If you think so. First I active the Ultimate Sacrifice card and I send Soldier of Fire, Soldier of Death from my hand, Soldier of Time, Soldier of Wind, Soldier of Oceans, Soldier of Ice, Soldier of Lightning and Soldier of Love from my deck to the graveyard, to summon the Soldier of Moon from my deck. For this I shall also pay at the end of my turn 2000 lifepoints." Lian Shen started laughing as her Special Summoned monster appeared. Soldier of the Moon (1500/1200), was a silvery-haired white-eyed female, dressed in a long white tunic, with silver crescent embroideries, on her forehead was a crescent which glowed serenely, as the monster clasped her hands together and prayed.

"Are you stupid woman? This monster has no chance against Maha Vailo!" exclaimed Lian Shen. The woman was definitely impaired in the head, if she thought that she could outsmart him. She would only damage him by 1850, while loosing all of her remaining life points at the end of the battle.

"Yet you have yet to see it's magnificent effect," announced Usagi, fondly looking over her summoned warrior, "Soldier of the Moon likes her friends very much and for each Soldier in the graveyard she gets additional 300ATK and 300DEF points," the white-haired monster glowed in all the colors of the rainbow, and the screen showed that her attack power was rising, until the unbelievable amount of 3900/3600.

"Yet, you shall still loose, you have not enough ATK points," spoke Lian Shen, he knew that she would not damage him enough and at the end of her turn her lifepoints would be reduced to zero, "You dug your own grave!" chuckled the Chinese man, smirking at Usagi. But much to his surprise, she still was smiling, and in her eyes a mischievous spark appeared.

"I play the card Card Destruction," the girl set the card, and Lian Shen grudgingly removed all the cards from his hand and drew four to replace the ones he discarded. Usagi had only one card, and he was sure that nothing would be able to change the course of her battle. But his hopes fell, as Usagi's smile became maliciously sweet, as she picked the card from her deck,

"Well… what do you know …" whispered the girl.

"What?"

"I equip the Silver Crystal to Soldier of the Moon! And raise her ATK points by 500. By now my lovely Soldier has 4400 attack points. More than enough to finish this duel!" announced the girl, placing another card onto her side of the field, and the Soldier of the Moon's crescent changed from silver to golden, and within her cupped hands a glow appeared. The Soldier of the Moon moved her hands apart and within her hands floated a crystal, than shone brightly.

"That is not possible!" whispered Lian Shen angrily.

"I told you I am a blitz-player. Yet you thought you were smarter! Soldier of the Moon! Attack and bring me the victory!" teased Usagi light-heartedly, and her monster obeyed her command, raising her hands above her head and destroying Maha Vailo immediately, ending the battle.

* * *

_Lian Shen: 0_

_Usagi: 350_

* * *

"Argh! That is not possible. You cheated," growled the Chinese man, as the platform lowered and Usagi was starting to walk over to him. Nobody had such luck. It was impossible!

"I did not! Hand over the star chips and leave my sight!" shouted Usagi indignately.

"I will not!" the Chinese announced, he decided he would report on a cheater to the guards, and just as he turned to run, he saw a security guard, whom he had seen giving them all the announcements, "I'll report this?"

"Is there a problem, Miss Crawford?" the man spoke to his opponent, and all color faded from the Chinese man's face. Lian Shen now knew why she had cards he never heard of before, he knew why she was so confident and assured.

"Saruwatari? I thought I asked you not to follow me," the girl frowned.

"Pegasus's order," replied the guard.

"P-p-pegasus?" Still Lian Shen couldn't believe it. She couldn't be Pegasus J. Crawford's daughter.

"Yes, Lian Shen. You are hereby disqualified having lost the duel to Usagi Serenity Crawford. Hand over your star chips and I will promise that no accidents will happen to you," spoke Sarutawari threateningly, Lian Shen couldn't even stop shaking, as he picked out the two star chips and handed them over to the guard, who hastily nodded to his companions to pick him up. Still shivering, he was escorted away. The first duelist to loose. Him… the Chinese champion.

* * *

"Why do they always do that?" whined Usagi, as she looked at Lian Shen, who had trouble even forcing his legs to move, as if he had the most terrible experience in his life.

"Cause you are creepy?" supplied Hotaru, with a smile. It was really scary sometimes, seeing how Usagi crushed duelists in three turns. Of course… Pegasus made it quite easy for her, with cards such as hers… but still…

"No, I am not, Ms Ouija board!" replied Usagi, sending Hotaru a withering look. Hotaru flushed, remembering her earlier hobby of speaking with the spirits. Before she had awakened, she communicated with them through the Ouija board, but now it was unnecessary. But still it was a topic, which she asked Usagi not to talk about in public.

"Hey! Usagi! I've told you not to –" but her angry tirade was interrupted, by her friend, as she jumped up and looked far into the distance searching as if for something.

"Is that Yugi-kun? They're following Haga! Let's observe!" And with that the blonde took off running, after the group of people.

"Oh, for Hades's sake!" Hotaru swore, as she sighed. Usagi was always that way. Cheerful and aloof. But it was for the better. As Usagi shouted for her to catch up, Hotaru sighed once more, yet with a smile on her face chased after her princess.

The arrived to a meadow in the forest in no time, and already duelists were gathered around, no wonder wanting to see Haga duel. That boy was the Japanese champion, and no doubt younger duelists followed him like puppies.

"Hey, look a duel is starting over here! Who's playing?" she heard a boy whisper to another.

"Insector Haga and …" his companion faltered as he looked at Yugi, no doubt not knowing who it was. But it was Usagi who answered his question in an excited tone.

"That's Yugi Mutou! The one who beat Kaiba!" Goooo, Yugi-kun!" Usagi was jumping up and down excitedly and Hotaru shook her head, giggling at the rabbit's antics. She looked over at Yugi and something was definitely not the same with him. He looked… different if she could say so.

"Usagi, don't you think Yugi looks kind of strange?" murmured Hotaru quietly to Usagi, careful not to let anyone overhead them. The blonde rabbit looked up at Yugi, first in confusion and then in suspicion. Usagi saw it too.

"Yeah, he does look kind of different. Look, I think he's taller," noted Usagi quietly. The black-haired girl looked over suspiciously, there was something amiss:

"Maybe he was hunching before," she supplied weakly, but Usagi shook her head/

"Look, he has this strange look in his eyes."

And as Hotaru glanced over, she saw the difference. Yugi's eyes were definitely violet, the same shade as hers, but these eyes. They were the color of scorching red. Frowning the girl concentrated on the boy and felt a slight magical interference. Probing further, she noted that it was a distraction magic, something like the Senshi had, so that no one could think straightly and connect their civilian forms to the Senshi forms. But if she could see through the magic, because she was Saturn… and Usagi could see it too…

"Yeah… his eyes were violet…" murmured Hotaru softly, still brainstorming of the possible implications.

"Strange." Usagi's whisper was soft, since the girl was all concentrated on the battle happening on the field. Haga had summoned Killer Needle (1200/1000) and Yugi summoned (1200/800). And Yugi attacked.

"Oh, no, look, Yugi is attacking!" Usagi gasped. Hotaru frowned, didn't Yugi know of the Duelist Kingdom rules?

"But the field is of forest. His card will be destroyed!" commented the black-haired girl, crossing her arms, and deciding that she would try to solve Yugi's metamorphose later.

And then Weevil began to gloat that he was the only one Pegasus had told about the new rules. That the field they're playing on was 80% forest, and 20% wasteland. That the forest was the perfect field for his insects, which received a 30% boost to both their attack and defense power.

"Haga is so annoying!" deadpanned Usagi, as she cringed. Hotaru nodded, almost wishing she had earplugs that specifically filtered out Haga's rambling. And then Killer Needle started to fade away.

"Look, Usagi-chan!" exclaimed the Player Killer.

"The Killer Needle! It's been destroyed too," spoke Usagi in shock and then grinned, remembering suddenly form which field Mammoth Graveyard received an upgrade, "Yugi's monster got also a power up!"

"Yugi-san is smart," noted Hotaru. Even before knowing the rules, the boy guessed accurately why Haga had lead them away. Just by looking at the field he guessed the effect of the battle fields and chose the right card.

"Yes, he is…" murmured Usagi. The Senshi looked at her princess, who was staring up at this _different _Yugi completely transfixed and worry etched itself into her mind. Was her princess... perhaps… only perhaps… but could she be feeling attraction to the boy? The black-haired girl frowned, she couldn't allow that. Usagi was meant to be with Mamoru, even if she didn't remember him. Sure enough, Usagi was like any other regular girl (almost), and she crushed easily.

'_I just hope Usagi awakens before it can become anything too serious… otherwise… it could be painful…'_

Weevil summoned the Hercules Beetle (1500ATK, raised to 1950 by Field Bonus) and Yugi summoned Feral Imp (1300ATK), equipping it to the monster (2000ATK). And he attacked just as Usagi screamed to Yugi, although it had been a bit late, as Feral Imp was already charging towards the large insect.

"No, Yugi-kun! The equip cards when equipped to a monster which is not in any field, do not work against monsters who are in a field!" pleaded Usagi desperately, knowing that even if she hoped for that, Yugi wouldn't be able to call of the attack. Haga glared at her angrily, furious that someone was giving away the secrets of the duelist kingdom to his opponent.

"Shut up, wench!" spat Insector Haga, and Yugi's eyes narrowed at him.

"Haga! Just for that, I'll make your defeat even more humiliating! Facedown card!" exclaimed Yugi, his voice dark and threatening, eyes narrowed and burning with a fire.

"Hiding now Yugi? I guess you won by pure luck," smirked Haga, not even fazed by Yugi's announcement.

Five more turns passed and Haga had filled the field with his insect monsters. He was outnumbered and in the worst case Haga could always set his monster in defense, to wait until he would summon a more powerful monster.

"No… Haga's got five monsters. What will Yugi do?" whispered Usagi faintly.

"Well… Yugi is lucky that no direct attacks of life points are possible!" noted Hotaru.

"Yes, he is…"

Yugi set two more cards face-down and Haga gloated that Yugi was so desperate he had to resort to a spell card.

"Haga is going to eliminate each monster Yugi has, it's a pity, he wasn't as good as we thought, I guess he got lucky," spoke the black-haired girl, but Usagi smirked, just as Haga attacked.

"I don't think so, Hotaru-chan! I am betting that the card Yugi set is a trap card!" And Usagi was correct, as soon as Haga attacked, Yugi flipped the card, revealing one of the best trap cards. Mirror Force. Haga screamed angrily as his field was wiped from monsters.

"Lucky!" exclaimed Usagi jumping up and down happily.

"Just like you?" Hotaru smirked. Usagi stopped and stared at her strangely. And then she grinned.

"I'm more lucky!"

A few feet in front of them, by the duelist field, stood Anzu, Jounoochi and Honda cheering on for Yugi. Very loudly so.

"All right! How was that, insect-bastard!" shouted Jounoochi. "There's no way you can defeat Yugi!" cheered Honda. "Go, Yugi! You'll win easily!" exclaimed Anzu.

"It's hard to tell yet! Yugi-chan is only slightly ahead!" And that same voice cause Hotaru's world to go spinning around. Her sister was here. The sister that she despised for her morals and values. The sister, who cared about money and vanity.

"Look, it's Mai-san!" exclaimed Usagi, starting to walk over to them. For a second the youngest of the Kujaku sisters contemplated whether to join Usagi or not (that girl was sometime too polite for her own good). But then she decided… if she wouldn't come over and shut Mai, she would just gloat and just as usual ruin the fun for others. Ruin their hopes and smash them. She always did that. She just couldn't believe in friendship and luck. For her it was money and fame. Thus she decided to walk over.

"In Duel Monsters you never know how much things can change in just one turn. So don't be so happy yet!" spoke Mai. Just as usual. Sure Mai was speaking the truth, but did she have to do it that way. With each step Hotaru's frown became more obvious, as she didn't even bother to hide her displeasure.

"What! Yugi is really winning right now!" exclaimed Anzu.

"But Insector Haga is the Japanese champion. The real match is just beginning." Mai wanted to say something more but Hotaru would have nothing of that.

"Oi, Mai. Lay off!" she spoke angrily, not missing the disappointed look on Usagi's face. Usagi always wanted her to be friends with her sister too. But Hotaru just couldn't. She embodied everything Hotaru disliked.

"Hotaru-chan, how nice to see you here. How many matches have you won?" asked Mai, in a sickly sweet patronizing tone. She always thought Hotaru to be weak and frail. But she wasn't! She was Sailor Saturn! She was a proud warrior.

"None of your business," bit back Hotaru. Mai hesitated for a moment, her eyes flickering a bit. The same eyes as she had and then the blonde woman turned back to the duel.

"Well, let's just watch the duel."

"Yeah, and keep your comments to yourself," muttered Hotaru under her breath.

"Hotaru-chan!" Usagi whispered, Hotaru didn't even have to look at her princess, to know that she had that look on her face. If she were to look at the blonde rabbit, she would no doubt feel guilty. But she couldn't help. For some reason, she really… didn't like Mai that much.

"Usagi-san, Hotaru-san. You're here to watch too?" Hotaru nodded to Honda, as Usagi replied: "Yeah, I've just finished my own duel and I want to watch Yuugi-kun duel too!"

Insector Haga glared at Yugi, promising that he would regret it, because now it became personal. Hotaru snorted at that. Haga was just too fixated on his insects, and mentally cheered on Yugi as he told Haga to put his complaints in his cards. Yugi would definitely beat him head on. During the next turns, Haga played a weak monster, intent to get Yugi to attack him, no doubt wishing that the Dark Magician would be destroyed, but Yugi played Monster Recovery, summoning his Dark Magician back to his deck and attacked instead with Kuriboh. Everyone thought that Weevil was outsmarted until the annoying insect began to laugh: "I don't give a bee's behind about that stupid trap! It was only a trick to get you to recall his monsters, so he could safely play Larvae Moth (500 ATK, raised to 650 by the field power bonus)," he flipped the card he earlier placed onto the field. Hotaru frowned, the Larvae Moth was very weak, standing no chance against Yugi's monsters, but as Weevil played the Cocoon of Evolution (2000 DEF), equipping onto the Larvae Moth, Hotaru recognized that move. No one had ever beaten that.

They watched in disgust as the Larvae Moth squelched around, becoming encased in the cocoon.

"In five turns, my Larvae Moth will undergo a startling transformation, becoming the Ultimate Great Moth!" announced Weevil chuckling evilly.

"Ew, what is that?" exclaimed Usagi.

"I think he is summoning something much more powerful!" murmured Hotaru, as everyone looked at her. "Yugi could be in trouble. And his Dark Magician is probably in the deck by now!" She wondered for a moment, whether she would speak about this combo of his, but Mai beat her to that.

"No one has ever been able to defeat his Cocoon of Evolution combo!"

The group was silent, as the implications of the situation dawned on them. Yugi was in for quite a battle, a very difficult battle, which would be hard to win. Their faces down they turned back to the battle, starting to loose hope. Inwardly Hotaru cursed her sister, for once again ruining the fun for them, and just as she was about to chew Mai out, Usagi spoke: "Are you so sure Mai? I would bet one of my star chips against that?"

"Really?" everyone blinked at Usagi, who picked out on of her star chips from the gauntlet and began throwing it up and down.

"Alright! Let's bet one of our star chips," replied Mai with a grin. Just like her sister, to catch onto easy deals, to try to get out without any damage to herself. And for some reason, Hotaru pitied her sister. Because she never had a friend for real.

"No… only I will bet. Consider it a gift for coming to Duelist Kingdom," replied Usagi, waving her hand.

Mai frowned: "I'm not nice like my sister."

"Mai!" growled Hotaru, earning a gasp of surprise from Anzu, "Leave Usagi alone." Hotaru turned to Usagi, with pleading eyes and begged her friend: "Usagi-chan, don't do this."

"But I want!" Usagi glanced at her with the same eyes. Those begging heartfelt eyes, which no one could say no to. Hotaru knew she lost once more. A sigh came from her lips and she nodded relenting once more. If her princess wanted to bet her star chip without getting anything in return, it was her choice.

The battle went on, the Larvae becoming more powerful each turn and then Yugi drew a card and his face changed. A smirk graced his lips as he summoned the monster, Curse of Dragon.

"A dragon?" whispered Mai. Hotaru smirked, she felt it was not the end of Yugi's turn. Mai was in for a bad surprise. Hotaru understood already a few turns ago, that Yugi was a duelist just like Usagi. Fortuna loved him, just as she had blessed her princess.

"And a magic card!" called out her blonde princess, just as Yugi set the card which would destroy the field, "Burn the field down!"

"What, he can't do that!" exclaimed Haga angrily, just as he heard the shouts from Usagi.

"Yes, I can!" came the angry growl, and as Haga glanced at Yugi, he saw something sinister in the boy's eyes, "Hell Flame!"

"Yes, Yugi, destroy that disgusting cocoon," cheered Anzu.

"It's not over yet," whispered Hotaru. She was the first to hear it. The thin and flittering sound of an insect, the sound of something moving and communicating with the moths in the forest. No doubt Weevil's disgusting creature was still alive.

"What is this sound?" whispered Usagi, as she clutched Hotaru's hand, and then the moth came forth, covered in slime and heavily rising from the ground. Behind them Anzu made a face in disgust.

"Oh no! In this tournament ground monsters can't reach flying monsters!" shouted Usagi, as she looked over the field. The only monster which could fight against the Moth was Gaia, and he couldn't fly.

"I told you so, girl! He can't win against me!" gloated Haga, as he smirked and turned towards Yugi who was fuming. Yes, Hotaru saw that fury in his eyes. His eyes were almost unholy, no mere mortal could have eyes like that. And even his voice, as he growled at Haga:

"Her name is Usagi!" even his voice appeared to be unearthly. Usagi shivered at her side and Hotaru quickly embraced the girl. The battle went on, with Yugi fusing his dragon and knight, into a much more powerful monster, which was still heavily damaged by the Ultimate Moth's poison. And when all seemed lost, the Moth covered in water from the Mist advancing upon Yugi, he summoned a creature.

The Summoned Skull loomed over them menacingly.

"Yugi will win!" exclaimed Usagi, but Mai glanced over skeptically, deciding to put in her two coins: "What does he plan to do with that, pray tell me, blondie!"

Hotaru smirked, sometimes Mai failed to notice the most obvious things. And that was when she fell hard. She took a step back from Usagi, as her friend a righteous tone in her voice explained to her sister, what seemed to be obvious:

"See the Moth? It's wet! The electricity from the Skull's attack will hit him hard and Haga shall loose!"

"Impossible!" whispered Mai.

"Just watch!"

And Usagi was right.

* * *

Once more he won a battle. He didn't even give the fool, who dared to throw his Exodia over the board a second glance. The duelist was not honorable. He would just go to his host's friends. As he came to them, he saw again the strange blonde girl, whom he could touch even in his spirit form. She too wore the gauntlet, which signified that she was a duelist just like him.

"You should let her bet her star chip, Usagi-chan," chided Anzu, "She would have deserved it!" A low chuckle escaped from his mouth. Sometimes Anzu was too righteous. Perhaps that was the reason why Yugi crushed a bit over the girl.

"I already have four," deadpanned Usagi, earning surprised stared from them. His interest shifted to the girl, so she was good. But then again, he would have been disappointed if such an interesting specimen would have been kicked off the island, before he could find out why she was so strange.

"Already? Whom did you beat?" he asked. She glanced over at him, and for a second he thought he saw some suspicion in them, but then the blonde girl, Usagi, grinned and replied: "Lian Shen the Spellcaster."

"The Chinese champion?" whispered Jounoochi in shock.

"Yep." Usagi nodded and he narrowed his eyes at her. His own duel had lasted around forty minutes; overall an hour had passed since the duels started, which would have meant that she ended her game in less than fifteen minutes. And as far as his host knew, Lian Shen was far more powerful than Haga.

"Impressive, how did you manage that? You managed to do it that quickly? I thought he was good." Usagi looked at him, her grin never fading, something mischievous lighting up in her face: "I **am **Usagi, the Blitz Player! I win duels in three turns."

"You hear that Yugi?" Jounoochi slapped him on the back, winking. So his host's friend hinted that he would have trouble with the promising blonde duelist. Perhaps, and perhaps not. After all, he was the king of games.

"It will be interesting dueling you," he spoke, evaluating her, reaching out with his Shadow Powers, trying to see whether she was worthy. And the moment the lingering magic touched her, he felt exhilarated. Energy strong as a waterfall flowed over through the link, and he felt her heart, the heart of a warrior that was just and pure. Her radiance lit up his soul, chasing away the shadows. And for a second a vision of a crescent vividly appeared in his mind.

"Are you planning to duel me now?" inquired Usagi, reached for her deck. The dark spirit smirked, and pulled back the tendrils of his magic, and stepping slightly closer to the girl, never missing the look of surprise, the slight waver in her resolve, cherishing that slightly intimidated look on her face, he gently murmured:

"I'll leave you for desert!" She was very worthy. Very worthy.

Three gasps of surprise came, and the spirit knew he had slightly overstepped the line. If he was parading around as Yugi, and his friends didn't know of his existence, he would have to act like Yugi.

"Yugi! What are you saying?" cried out Anzu, hastily apologizing, to Usagi, who was becoming the color of a ripe tomato, tugging at the hem of her dress, as she shifted uncomfortably. For second the girl looked up, startled at his satisfied expression. And then she changed herself. Her eyes became colder and much more confident; she straightened herself up and never wavering, answered him in the same tone, the same taunting tone: "For desert. Alright… I'll leave you for desert too… it will be delicious," the girl smirked, glancing slightly around at their friends who were momentarily stunned, "Well… got to run, Yugi-chan…" she murmured, turning around to leave, motioning Hotaru to follow her, and just as she was leaving, she turned around and spoke in a very serious tone, "your determination during duels really changes you, you know?"

He knew that look. It was the look that told him, _'I know your secret'. _But how could she seem him through. Nobody else noticed.

'_You noticed? But the magic, doesn't it… hide the truth?'_

* * *

A pair of malevolent brown eyes, glinting with red, watched the two leaving. He smirked, as he carefully leaped down from the branch he was sitting at. It definitely made his job easier. The Spirit of the Ring would get his revenge. The white-haired youth smirked as he imagined how devastated the pharaoh would be once his precious princess would be forever taken away.

When he had first awoken in London, he thought he was the only one, and that the Pharaoh had gone insane in the Shadow Realm. Imagine his surprise when he had once tracked a strange power gathering in an all-girls school. With a bit of infiltration he found five people he was least expecting to find there. He expected Shada, he expected Seth, he expected the Pharaoh, but instead he found them.

The Sailor Senshi. Throughout the time they never changed. Princess Mercury was still the book worm. Princess Jupiter still loved to train and bake in her free time. Princess Venus was just as flirty as she was in the past. Princess Moon was still forgiving, childish and carefree. And his Princess was still dark and solitary. Only this time around… he didn't sense that darkness which had inhabited her in the past. She still communed with the darkness: that much he could tell, but that other presence was gone from her.

At first he was careful, but when it was confirmed that they remembered nothing, he sent Dark Necrofear to capture Sailor Saturn and Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon for obvious reasons: he delighted in hurting the pharaoh and he hated her light. And Sailor Saturn… well he just wanted his pretty bird back. He had promised her, that no matter what guise she wore, what face she had, he would always find her, because she was his to use.

Then his landlord, as he liked to call the frail boy, as if by fate, moved to Japan, Domino city and he found the pharaoh. And it was then that he realized that the pharaoh had no recollection of the past. There were no insults, no threats passed between them like in the olden times. Sure, the pharaoh threatened him, but only because he trapped his friends in that game. And judging by what he had now observed, the Pharaoh didn't recognize Serenity, even when she stood in front of him, although pretty much nothing changed about her.

It was just the crescent that was gone. A smirk crossed his lips. Perhaps Sailor Saturn had stopped his plans, but she also didn't remember the past. That much was sure, because if she had remembered then she would have definitely had known, who called her 'pretty bird'. Instead she started researching, who was Dark Necrofear, and even when coming upon the mentions of Ancient Egypt and Duel Monsters, she couldn't piece it together. A grotesque smirk appeared on his face. He would just let them be for now.

After all the spirits came out only at night.

* * *

"Luna, I have found out where Usagi and Hotaru are!"

'_Artemis? Where are they?'_

"They are at an island near the north coast of Japan at a tournament called Duelist Kingdom."

'_Thank Selene, they are safe.'_

"They are not! I have met Pluto."

'_Pluto? What did she say?'_

"She said the Shadow Games are starting once more!"

'_What is it?'_

"She didn't tell, just left. She told us to awaken Usagi as soon as possible. She will need it. You need to leave immediately. Take the Senshi too."

'_Alright. But will it b soon enough?'_

"I hope."

'_Alright, Artemis."_

The white-haired male hung up the phone and frowned. He found the name Shadow Games really familiar. It felt again like back then, when they were searching for Serenity, and although deep inside they knew that it was Usagi, but that information was hidden away, only to be revealed when most necessary.

* * *

**End Chapter 1**

* * *

_**23/07/2010 – **__So how did you like it? I tried to keep the duels to the minimum, focusing more on character relationships. Out of the 22 pages, I think that the least of it takes up the 'Oh, here you go, I'm gonna crush you with my card!' _

_As for the reason why I gave Usagi a special deck, well considering she is the only child of Pegasus, the only thing that reminds him of Cyndia (Cecelia), and thus when Usagi received all these dreams when she was just a child, she was so enamored with them, that when he made the game, eh decided to give his daughter a special kind of deck._

* * *

**_Definite pairings:_**

_Yami Yugi/Usagi_

_Yami Bakura/Hotaru_

_Jounoochi/Mai_

_Haruka/Michiru_

_Yugi/Anzu_

_Seto/Rei_


	3. 2: Day Hunts and Night Games

**_05/11/2010 – _**_Woah… the rate of this story scares me. It takes me multiple hours just to draft out the chapter, and then to write the arts in between the dialogue. This chapter is like 33 pages long. –bangs head against the keyboard-. I started working on it around 04:00PM and finished at 00:30AM. Scary. But I am happy with the result. So please enjoy._

* * *

Thank to all those who reviewed, C2d, favourited this story: **naya**, **smfan**, **Samseestars, Ivy Tearen, Kochou-hime, Alycee Lanet, Cosmic-lover **(thanks, but it's a pain in the back to write such long chapter, literally… and I can't really even scratch my back, else ruin the new tattoo I got), **Failisse **(well, those questions shall be answered later, that is why the story exists, to answer questions not immediately), **Sesshy's Mistress **(Rei and Seto! Argh… you do realize, I need to finish the Duel Island part first. Well… at least it isn't in Part II of the story, the Battle City arc), **mian-mian, CelticHero, MissKenniGurl672, kyuuo.**

* * *

**_Japanese names vs. dub names (first name is highlighted):_**

**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_

**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

_Crockets (Croquets)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

* * *

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"You are eliminated, Rex!" announced Hotaru as her Golden Homunculus loomed over the duel ring. The despaired cries of the dinosaur duelist still echoed as Hotaru calmly threw the starchips she collected from him into her chip-bag. It was really just too easy sometimes. She even felt as if some greater force guided her through duels.

"Wow, you're so great!" exclaimed her blonde friend as she jumped up and down. The black haired girl smiled fondly at her friend, "You're not bad too, Usagi-chan!"

"But, this was awesome! No wonder daddy hired you to be an eliminator!" spoke Usagi excitedly, as she tackled the shorter girl into a hug. Hotaru chuckled nervously trying to pry off her over-emotional friend, "Alright, alright!" Finally after a while Usagi let go and skipped away cheerfully.

"Let's go somewhere to the sea and make some fire," she chirped.

"You want to eat?" Hotaru blinked.

"Grill sausages!" cheered Usagi, and Hotaru chuckled lightly. There was another thing which never changed. Usagi was always hungry. She felt very happy that this time around they had more time to age, before the destiny caught up to them. Of course… it was problematic that she didn't know where the others were. If an enemy would arise it would be difficult to assemble everyone. But so far it seemed pretty calm, if you counted out that event in London.

But there was something which unnerved her about this island. She had yet to understand. Of course there was that spirit which loomed around Yugi, but he seemed pretty harmless, besides Usagi forming a 'sort-of' obsession over him. But she was pretty sure once they would be all assembled again and the Prince would be back in the picture, Usagi would throw the youth out of her mind. Though Hotaru still wondered why Yugi had his soul divided into two halves, and why one was a spirit.

"You brats! How dare you say you have not eaten it! Then give it back!" the angry scream came from the shore. Hotaru turned around and saw familiar faces, once more. _'Of course… always getting into trouble.'_

"What's going on?" asked Usagi as she turned to look as well.

"Oh, look. Again familiar faces. They have a knack for trouble!" spoke Hotaru in a joking voice, shaking her head. She turned around to walk off, but a warm hand took hold of her own, and the next moment Hotaru was being dragged away by the uber-cheerful, hyperactive blonde, who was currently in a 'I-am-a-superhero-whose-father-owns-this-island!' mode. The weakly mumbled protests were ignored.

"Usagi-chan! You're not a superhero to run in saving those four each time!" whined the black-haired girl, as she was dragged away by Usagi.

'_But, who I am fooling…'_

"Ryouta-san!" Ah, blue hair. Naked torso. And an octopus on his head. The sea-obsessed maniac duelist was as ever in his usual getup. Nothing strange. Everything is fine. Hotaru sighed once more. She was doing a lot of sighing these days. Why did she ever in the name of Hades agree to go to the Duel Monsters tournament with Usagi? Another sigh, and the next second she found herself pushed away from Usagi, as Kajiki Ryouta grabbed the blonde's hands and with a flirtatious smile greeted the blonde.

"Ah… Miss Usagi, how are you this wonderful day?"

"Is there some problem?" Ah, so cold, Usagi-chan. In her mind Hotaru stuck her tongue out at Ryouta, who was pretty much off-handedly greeted by Usagi, who then, went straight to the point.

"Well… there wouldn't be, if these three haven't eaten my lunch!" Usagi's face grew pale, causing her friend to chuckle, while Yugi and his friends just shrugged in confusion. Slowly the cheerful rabbit, unless provoked, turned to the group of duelists with a face that would scare the dead:

"You just took somebody else's lunch?" she spoke hollowly. Yugi's mouth promptly fell open and he froze. Hotaru snickered. Trust Usagi to make a scene over food.

"I told you that was a bad idea!" whispered Anzu to Jounoochi. They hastily apologized to Usagi, who just as quickly as she made her trademarked 'blonde Sadako' face, just as quickly dropped it. The girl smiled brilliantly at the offended fisherman.

"Ryouta-san, I must apologize for their actions, is there any way I can make up for the fault of my friends?" Ryouta immediately dropped all of his defenses, dreamily staring into Usagi's eyes.

"Wow… so diplomatic…" sighed Jounoochi and Honda synchronously, and Hotaru barely concealed another giggle with a cough, earning a short glare from Usagi. But she just winked back at the blonde, urging her to continue with this theatre of absurd the blonde obviously enjoyed.

"Yeah, will Miss Usagi go out on a date with me?" spoke Ryouta kissing Usagi's fingers.

"No," deadpanned Usagi, still smiling as she pulled her fingers away from his grasp, not minding the least his dejected face expression.

"How cruelly rejected," whispered Anzu chuckling to Hotaru.

"Well, you can't blame Usagi-chan. She always gets these lechers around her," spoke Hotaru in a joking tone, glancing meaningfully at Ryouta. And then she just burst out laughing. It was just too much.

First, Usagi scared into utter speechlessness Yugi-kun, who was still standing with an open jaw, probably not having recovered from the hollow voice and the 'evil blonde Sadako' expression. Second, the face Ryouta made, when Usagi simply rejected him ever smiling, was something to be recorded and Hotaru honestly regretted she didn't bring her camera with her. And now… that… wiggling… slimy…octopus! It was just too much.

"Why are you staring at me like that? And why are you laughing?" demanded Ryouta.

"Octopus…" with that Hotaru pointed to his hair, where, behold, an octopus was writhing. The group broke out in laughter, as the water-duelist grabbed the small creature in anger, throwing it back into the sea from whence it came: "Damn it!". And with cries of despair, Jounoochi and Honda ran after the octopus, screaming for it to come back so they could cook it.

"Morons…" muttered Ryouta, he glanced, this time calmly at them all and spoke: "This is the first time I've met chosen duelists, since arriving here. You are dueling too, Miss Usagi? Care to duel with me?" Usagi blushed, as the duelist once more took her hands, "Not for star chips, but for a date."

"Nope," chirped Usagi and pulled her hands away once more. Usagi the Heartbreaker – Ryouta the Rejected, 2-0.

"Rejected again," snickered Anzu.

"Nice to meet you, Kajiki Ryouta! I am Yugi Mutou!" it seemed as if Yugi had come out of his stupor and decided to join their little conversation. The boy was smiling as he extended his hand to Ryouta.

"The one…"

"Yeah, yeah, the one who beat Seto Kaiba! Is that a big deal?" spoke Usagi in a nagging tone. And she was right. Everyone was just getting too fired up over Yugi who beat Seto Kaiba. Frankly, Hotaru, didn't see any big deal in it. So what that Kaiba was never defeated before. He never played against many players, and so it was not proven that he was definitely the best around the whole world.

"Of course it is, don't you know who Kaiba is?" exclaimed Ryouta in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just challenge him if you are so eager…" muttered Usagi waving him off, as she looked at the small fire, that was still burning a couple feet away.

"Oh well, you're invited to eat my fish," spoke the fisherman duelist suddenly, he nodded to Hotaru and Usagi also: "And you two also."

"Can we use your fire?" asked Hotaru politely, dropping the bag to the ground and pulling out some packaged food. Ryouta nodded to her, and continued to prepare the fish for grilling, all the while constantly glancing at Yugi, who was animatedly talking to Jounoochi, probably explaining more strategies to him. That didn't go unnoticed. Amethyst eyes narrowed in thought.

'_He wants to challenge Yugi-kun. I bet his hospitality extended to Yugi-tachi only because of this…'_

"Oh, you have food!" exclaimed Anzu. Hotaru looked up from her bag to the brunette, who was looking longingly at the rations. The group probably didn't know anything about the organization of this event and probably didn't even pack food or tents. Oh well, not like they couldn't go to the castle and get more if they ran out.

"Want some?" kindly offered the black-haired girl. Anzu smiled happily and nodded. "Thanks," she replied, as she picked up a grill sausage package and walked off to find some stick to grill them. This didn't go unnoticed by the trio of boys who sat just away from them. Hotaru wordlessly extended another package to Yugi, who graciously accepted it.

"Hey, give us also something!" exclaimed Jounoochi and Honda. And just as she reached into the bag to find something for those two, a hand was laid upon her own. As she raised her head, she saw Usagi looming ominously over her, once again in her 'blonde Sadako' mode, glaring at Jounoochi and Honda: "You don't deserve it! You ate Ryouta-san's fish without allowance!" scolded the blonde.

"How cruel!" whined Jounoochi, not paying attention to Yugi, who albeit amused by Usagi's behavior offered to divide his own share between the three of them.

"The angel is harsh and unforgiving although she smiles constantly!" Honda cried into Jounoochi's shoulder.

'_Silly children,' _the soldier of silence chuckled gently. It was… relaxing being here. She was not worried about Usagi. These people were kind and nice. And they could perhaps enjoy the peace a little bit longer. She fell back onto the grass and let out a content sigh. The clouds moved slowly in the eternally blue sky.

* * *

Just as expected Ryouta challenged Yugi. And just as expected by Usagi the _other_ Yugi came out. Smirking the blonde duelist walked over to him, yes, now he was definitely taller than she was. Raising her chin a bit, to stare him straight into the eyes, a faint smile played upon her lips.

"So, will you duel?" she whispered.

"Here? By the sea?" asked the other Yugi, as he looked around. His friends were looking expectantly at him, and Ryouta was waiting for his reply to his challenge. Usagi smirked. No doubt he was wondering whether it was a good idea, after all Ryouta was an ocean-themed duelist, and in this tournament there were many rules.

"Is this a challenge for you?" she asked teasingly, leaning in closer to him, so close she felt his breath. So close she felt him take a sharp intake of breath when she moved in close. The last time he had flustered her, but she also could do that. Much to her disappointment he regained the grasp on his emotions quickly, as those red eyes, so different from Yugi's hyacinth colored ones, narrowed in determination.

"No, it isn't," he spoke.

"Don't think I never notice this change. You are not Yugi, are you?" her eyes burned through him and if he had not regained his composure a moment ago, he definitely would have taken a step back. She saw it in his posture. Without any other word she walked back to Hotaru, who was standing quietly, awaiting the start of the duel.

"What did she say?" asked Anzu, as other Yugi came back.

"She wished me luck!" spoke the other Yugi with a small smile. He cast a glance back at Usagi. And just as expected she was still looking at him, her gaze suspicious. The other Yugi winked and …

"_Duel!"_

Throughout the duel Usagi never once let her eyes leave Yugi' face. The difference was obvious. His eyes were slanted and Yugi's were round. In fact his eyes looked as If they were always lined with kohl, and that slanted form… she already saw it somewhere. His hair although much similar to Yugi's also was somewhat different. Even the gestures and the posture differed.

_And in his eyes the blood of thousands reflected and the gold seemed to shine with black light upon him. His skin tanned to a dark bronze shade in comparison to her own pale, almost white skin. The eyes were always lined with kohl, just as it was custom in his land, and the white tunic contrasted against his skin, the golden crown visually melting into his golden bangs. He was hers and so different from the boy she came to love…_

Usagi blinked in shock. What was it just now? For a second she saw him, in a different attire from this one and for some reason she considered him hers. It was confusing. Ryouta seemed to be gaining the upper hand with his ocean monsters, but he would win.

_The King of Games…_

_The Dark Pharaoh…_

The King of Games… her hands entwined, as she couldn't shake the feeling of worry over him possibly loosing this duel. But it wasn't possible. Why would she worry over the fate of her rival? It was confusing. Yet, her heart cheered for him as he triumphed over the duelist, and Usagi jumped up and down merrily. It would be easier to forget these confusing thoughts and visions.

"Well… do we leave?" Hotaru's voice shook her out of her reverie. They had to leave already. But she didn't want to. She wanted to spend some time with Yugi-kun, Anzu-chan, Jounoochi-kun and Honda-kun. They didn't know who she was. She could act normal with them. They didn't simper before her because her father was the creator of Duel Monsters. They didn't lie to be in her graces because she was wealthy. They didn't even know that she was the daughter of Pegasus. They were friends with her just because she was Usagi. Couldn't they stay some more…

"We will still continue to bump into them all the time! Why not just stay with them?" asked Usagi, turning wide blue puppy dog eyes to her friend. Everyone was busy congratulating Yugi.

"Are you sure? Cause… you know I'd have to leave," spoke Hotaru, this time quietly, casting a quick glance to their new friends.

"Why?" Usagi pouted, as she nudged the small stone. She knew she was acting like a child. But she wanted to stay with her new friends for a while longer.

"You know I am an eliminator,"

"Ah… yes… I forgot." Usagi sighed heavily. She completely forgot that fact. For her Hotaru was just another duelist, but to the others she was an eliminator. And it wouldn't be good for the duelists to find out who are the people hired by Industrial Illusion to disqualify them from the game.

"Then we'll leave," Usagi knelt down and started gathering her belongings into the backpack. She just wished to be normal a bit longer. Tossing all her stuff into the backpack she stood up and started walking towards the group, to say her goodbyes, just as Hotaru suddenly spoke: "Actually, stay," the blonde whipped her head around. Hotaru was standing there, a calm smile upon her face. "I'll find you all and visit between duels."

'_Hotaru-chan… you are awesome…'_

With a gleeful cackle she tackled her violet-eyed friend and hugged tightly her form. Hotaru giggled and hugged her back. A couple moments later the pretty eliminator waved to her from a distance and ran off.

"Where is she going?" asked Anzu, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Well…" trailed off Usagi, thinking of some excuse, "she has some business to attend to!" The blonde sweatdropped, a horrible excuse.

"Here?" inquired Anzu astounded.

"Yes!" Usagi nodded animatedly. Oh, why was everyone so nice here, that they actually cared where Hotaru went. Of course it was silly that she had business on the island, but still… couldn't Anzu leave it alone.

"Strange," murmured Anzu looking in the direction where Hotaru went off.

"Nothing strange!" Usagi chuckled nervously, as she twiddled with her fingers. If Anzu pressed on, she could crack. She never was good at lying. This was a moment she had to had anticipated before allowing Hotaru to leave alone.

"Usagi-chan, may I speak with you?" The other Yugi! He was her savior.

"What about?" she quickly inquiring, turning to him. Behind her Anzu shrugged, obviously giving up the questioning of the poor blonde who couldn't lie to save her life. The other Yugi was truly her savior. The brunette went back to Jounoochi and Honda, who were readily accepting the food Ryouta gave them, as they were leaving.

"Just some strategy tips," his red eyes glinted ominously. Or maybe he wasn't her savior. Anzu, Jounoochi and Honda were already gathered. They called other Yugi and Usagi over. She could just simply walk to them and ignore him. He obviously wanted something from her. Or she could tell them that they would catch up, if she wanted to get onto the bottom of this mystery.

"Oh alright," whispered Usagi, more to herself, than to the spirit, as if the words would give her more courage, "We'll catch up," she chirped to the trio, who just shrugged and slowly went ahead. And thus she was left alone with him. The dark spirit. The dark Yugi.

"How do you know?" he asked. His eyes seemed to zero in on her. And it felt as if only they existed in the whole world. From the corner of her eyes she noted shadow wisps moving in a hypnotizing way. The rabbit barely suppressed a shudder, trying to fearlessly look into his bloody gaze, as she spoke:

"You're a head taller, your eyes are more crimson than violet and your voice is deeper. It's obvious." With each word she was speaking more confidently. He would not scare her. She was not some prey! She was Usagi Serenity Crawford! She was strong! She was afraid of no one. She didn't fear him either.

"But nobody else sees it!" he took another step closer to her, and she took another step back.

"Maybe I am special," she parried, and as he took another step towards her, she took another step back. _'I am not a prey, I am not a prey…' _Her blue gaze was glued to his glowing bloody red eyes and even though she repeated those words as a mantra, nonetheless it was her taking baby steps back and him slowly approaching like a predator her.

"I do not argue that you are special," his words seemed soft as a purr, "But don't you think it is dangerous sometimes," but that was a purr of a panther, content that it caught its prey, another step forward from him, another step backwards from her, "some secrets may be too dark to know."

"I will get to the bottom of that!" bit back Usagi in an offended tone, and then her back met the hard bark of a tree. His hands fell to the sides of her waist and she pulled her hands up, holding them together near her chest, as if it was her last defense against this… _dangerous _man. He leaned down towards her face, and she clenched her eyes shut. She didn't like this Yugi. She read about these situations in mangas. He was going to kiss her. But she was never kissed before. She didn't want to lose her first kiss like that. She didn't want it to be like in the mangas.

But the kiss never came.

"Then you better try harder, little rabbit!" his warm breath tickled her ear, as her eyes flew wide open.

"Hey, don't call me that!" exclaimed Usagi, the other Yugi pulled away a smirk upon his lips, and for a second Usagi missed the warmth.

"You may call me Yami," her eyes narrowed at the name he gave her, the darkness, that was his name, it suited him, sort of, "I think I will enjoy coming out much more now," his hand rose to caress her cheek, and he didn't even mind her pulling away from his touch as if burned, "See you, princess." There was a bright flash and 'Yami' was gone. In his stead stood Yugi.

"Usagi-chan? Is there something wrong?" the boy with hyacinth colored eyes inquired, his face wearing a worried expression. The little rabbit suppressed a shudder. The little rabbit must have worn a scared expression upon her face. But this Yugi didn't seem to fully comprehend that he was regularly possessed by this spirit, who was absolutely infuriating.

"Ah, everything is alright," the girl smiled encouragingly to the boy, "I just wanted to discuss some strategies." That was what Yami told Anzu. She had to keep up with his game too. She would not lose this game. And so she walked alongside with Yugi, sometimes replying to him, as they walked on towards to catch up with Jounoochi, Honda and Anzu.

The sun was in the zenith.

* * *

It was sundown when Pegasus was enjoying his favorite comic with a glass of wine, merrily laughing at the antics of his favorite character – the mischievous rabbit. Sometimes the rabbit reminded him of his daughter, who had the same pale gold hair, his beloved Cyndia had. And just as he turned another page a rude interruption came. Angrily he looked up. It was Mr. Crockets. And he thought he instructed his guards that barging in when he was reading his comics was strictly prohibited.

"Pegasus-sama, the boy has escaped," hastily spoke the grey-haired guard. And bringing him bad news during his favorite past time was also forbidden.

"What? After I gave his my hospitality?" exclaimed the silver-haired man angrily. He slammed the comic down and glared at Crockets. Why were his guards so incompetent.

"We are trying to find him, but it takes time," spoke Crockets. Apologies. Excuses. But then again, they didn't posses the Sennen Eye. They were simple mortals. He should have known better, than let them guard the boy. Mokuba Kaiba was just as annoying as his brother was.

"Just watch the boats that leave and I will watch Yugi-boy," he leaned back into his seat. A remote was taken from the table, and with a press of a button a large screen on the wall lit up, bringing up Yugi's duelist sheet.

"Why?" Pegasus cast a glance to Crockets, sighing in exasperation.

"He's bound to appear there," speaking as if to a child the man explained, "Let's see how he is doing." The screen switched to the last update from his satellite, he quickly skimmed over Yugi's duels and smirked in satisfaction. The boy was doing good.

"Marvelous. Five star chips," and then a photo caught his eyes. He would recognize that hairstyle anywhere. There was a photo of his dear daughter walking with those annoying pests. "What's this…Usagi!"

"It seems that Usagi is traveling with them," he gripped his wine glass in anger. This was not going as he had planned. "You must not let Mokuba Kaiba under any circumstances near Usagi! If he'll speak about the fact that he was kidnapped…" the wineglass broke, but Pegasus did not care, as he glared at the screen, which seemed to be mocking him.

'_Curse it… Usagi mustn't know this. She is too innocent for this.'_

"Find them! Monitor all battlefields!" Crockets left in a rush. Pegasus took out a napkin wiping the blood from his fingers. He would never let his daughter know of his business. She would never find out.

'_She would hate me… but… this is for us… Cyndia, Usagi and I… we must be reunited…'_

* * *

Hotaru had been right. The Yugi-tachi had a knack for finding adventure. Well, Hotaru called it trouble, but Usagi called it adventure. They had come upon Sarutawari cruelly treating a young duelist, dragging him off to the boat. Usagi tried to order the guard around, but she knew the rules as well, so she just decided alongside with the others that it would be good to find the thief, and have him shipped away from the island.

"So, how did this thief look like?" asked Usagi sweetly, smiling at the flustered boy.

"Miss Usagi, are you sure you can manage it? What if it is dangerous?" It was Sarutawari. He was always needlessly cruel to others, and he never believed in her. It was frankly annoying the hell out of her.

"Don't worry about me Sarutawari," spoke Usagi curtly, turning back to the brown haired boy.

"The thief, his face I didn't see. He stole my cards and chips near that Duel Ring. He had a handkerchief on his face."

Turning back to her friends Usagi announced cheerfully, flashing them a V-sign: "Alright, team Usagi to find the thief!"

"Team Usagi?" Yugi chuckled lightly.

"Yep!"

* * *

And off they went. And they would definitely find the criminal, because detective Usagi was on the case. And she never failed. She never lost. Arriving to the Duel Ring the group split apart looking for any clues, as Usagi examined the surroundings with a magnifying glass, she fished out of her backpack. She had known it would be useful.

"How is it possible to find the criminal without any clues?" sighed Honda.

"Hm, I think the criminal will return here," supplied Yugi.

"Why should he?" Anzu asked incredulously.

"They say the criminal return to the scene of the crime," explained the short boy.

"Really, I'm not so sure?" murmured Usagi and just that moment a short boy, with a handkerchief on his face bolted out of the bushes.

"There you go, case solved, grab him!" shouted Jounoochi, as Honda did a quick jump tackling the boy to the ground.

"No violence!" shouted Usagi. She had seen enough violence today from Sarutawari, and she would personally kick Jounoochi and Honda if they would hurt the boy. But the culprit didn't really pay any attention to the two tall youths, as he struggled against them glaring at the short duelist.

"Yugi! Duel me!" he exclaimed angrily, earning a slap to the back of his head from Honda.

"Give back the star chips and we won't give you out to the guards," scolded Jounoochi shaking the boy. Just as Usagi was about to announce their retreat to the docks to give the star chips back to that unlucky duelist, Yugi spoke: "His target seems to be me. I'll duel him."

"Yugi, but he stole them. What if you lose?" Usagi cried out. She was getting irritated. They were ruining her case. What if they were late and detective Usagi wouldn't be able to bail out the unlucky boy.

Another flash from the puzzle, which went just as always unnoticed by the other people. Red eyes glanced at her amusedly. A smirk played upon his lips.

"You think I'll lose?" his voice was like velvet. The words encircled her and the darkness called to her.

"No… I don't," answered the blonde girl taking a step back, still not quite recovered from the last incident. And the most annoying thing was that she even felt a bit disappointed that he didn't kiss her. Which was totally uncharacteristic of her. As she glanced at Yami, he was watching the boy, as if he knew him.

"You already figured it out, who he is?"

"Maybe," and Yami went towards the boy, signaling his two friends to let the culprit go. The blonde frowned. Now _he _was ruining her case. She didn't enjoy it even the least.

"Duel start," announced Yami. She _really _was planning to stay there and watch the outcome of the duel, she wanted to know the identity of the rude boy, but… that was when she noted the pointy-haired guard in the distance, unnoticed by other, giving her a sign. It was a sign they used usually, so as not to shout. A sign to come over, because something important was going on. Quickly apologizing to Anzu, who was too immersed in the game, she ran off.

"Sarutawari?"

"Miss Usagi, your father is requesting you to appear in the castle immediately," the girl frowned.

"Something wrong?" Perhaps something happened to father, it better not be any of his childish antics. For god's sake, she was the child not him, but sometimes he acted as if he was five years old.

"I don't know. But he said it was really urgent," explained Sarutawari calmly.

"Urgent?"

"Yes."

"Maybe something happened. I must go. Wait for me, I'll tell goodbyes to my new friends," and Usagi turned away to run to Anzu. She completely missed the grimace of displeasure upon her father's guard's face. And even if she noticed, she paid no heed to it.

"I have to go. Tell Yugi I said bye. We'll meet up later," quickly spoke Usagi to the brunette, who was watching the duel.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Anzu, as Usagi already started to walk away. Usagi turned around, she saw the suspicious face. But… she really couldn't just tell them, hey, I am the daughter of the host. That would be just deadpanning it.

"I have urgent business I need to attend to," Usagi giggled nervously, and quickly ran off before anymore questions could be asked. This time she didn't miss the surprised faces. And she definitely didn't miss the wary glance from Yami.

"Hey, don't you think she's hiding something?" asked Anzu watching the blonde's quickly retreating form.

"Nah. Maybe she's famous or something," supplied Honda.

"Then, why don't we know her?" spoke Anzu in a skeptic voice.

"Er… well… don't ask such hard question, Anzu." The pretty brunette rolled her eyes. Trust her friends to be so stupid. Usagi was definitely hiding something, and she wasn't sure if it was safe or not.

* * *

"Yes, father? What is the matter is there something strange going on?" A quick glance to her father, and it looked as if everything was in order. He was standing with his back turned to her, sipping on his wine. Usagi made a face, sometimes he drank too much. She couldn't even hold a glass of spiked punch, and he drank wine all day. Her father turned around, as he wore a serious expression.

'_Maybe something horrible happened during the tournament? What if somebody was killed?'_

And then her father cracked a grimace of utter joy, storming towards her, taking her by surprise, and she once more didn't evade his surprise hug "Do I need an excuse to see my favorite daughter, do I now?" her father cried out dramatically, as he buried his head in her shoulder.

"Dad, I'm your only daughter!" shouted Usagi, trying to push her father away, this was annoying. He always did that. She should have expected this! It was just like him to pull her out of school, to announce his adoration towards her.

"The more meaning to me worrying about you. Let's celebrate our meeting once more!" exclaimed her father, as he took her hand and dragged her upstairs, never minding Usagi who was fighting against being dragged three floors up.

"Dad, we've seen each other last time less than 24 hours ago!" cried out Usagi angrily. And then Pegasus turned around. Usagi sweatdropped as large tears formed in his eyes, as he once more enveloped her in a bone crushing hug: "My Usagi-chan, I missed you so much!"

"Dad! Let go of me! It's embarrassing!" exclaimed Usagi, trying to wriggle away. But Pegasus never let go. The blonde girl growled in anger, as she pounded with her fists on her father's back. He was annoying!

"No need to hide your joy, let's embrace and be happy, and then let's read manga!" almost in a singing voice called out Pegasus. And that last word did the trick. Usagi pulled away with stars in her eyes.

"Manga?" Her father nodded giddily to her.

"Yes! Some wine and cheese and manga! Just like old times!"

"Well… only for an hour," relented Usagi.

* * *

Hours later a loud, almost insane laughter echoed through the mansion. Crockets stood nervously in front of the door to the dining room. "Hahahahahahaha!" That was Pegasus laughing his head off. Would he risk it? But Pegasus wanted to know about the duel… but when he was like that, it was dangerous to interrupt him. "Did you see that?" And that was Miss Usagi. Crockets grimaced. It was twice as bad if the father and the daughter were enjoying a comic. They turned absolutely unreasonable. Gathering his courage together he walked in and there they were: father and daughter lying on the table, reading some manga and laughing like idiots.

"Uh…" frankly, he was speechless.

"Mr. Crockets, leave now!" ordered Pegasus pointing towards the door.

"This is hilarious! Look, look!" exclaimed Miss Usagi pointed towards something in the comic they were reading and once more the duo broke out in an insane laughter. Crockets sighed… he would do better risking his employer's wrath now, than later.

"But, Pegasus-sama!"

"What?" growled Pegasus, as he looked up from the comic, his eyes narrowed in dissatisfaction.

"The duel, about which you asked me to inform, just finished," spoke Crockets nervously. Pegasus just waved his hand.

"And?"

"Mutou-san won!" the right-hand man, the guard and the butler. Inwardly Crockets was berating himself for even daring to think about coming to work for Pegasus in the first place. While this job had its perks, it had much more minuses. Like his employer being sort of insane. And his daughter too.

"Whaaaat! I missed Yugi-kun dueling?" Usagi bolted up, standing on the table with a surprised and shocked expression, "I must get back soon, lest I not discover his secret!" Her face changed to a determined one, and lit up in anticipation.

"Usagi-chan!" exclaimed Pegasus in shock, as he reached out to his daughter dramatically.

"What?" asked Usagi incredulously, "You know, when Yugi duels he becomes more mature, and I think he gets taller…" she paused to think, "I'm short, but Yugi is shorter than me, but when he duels he becomes taller than me," the girl raised her hand above her head by a few inches, "by that much."

"Usagi-chan…" whined Pegasus, still reaching out to her even as she jumped down, grabbed her backpack, still babbling about that boy Pegasus was obsessed with.

"And… his eyes… they become red and freaky!" she pulled her eyes, so that they became slanted, "And they also look Egyptian, like this," still walking towards the door, she didn't even notice that Pegasus had attached himself to her leg, begging her not to go to that horrid boy, "And his name is Yami! I promised that detective Usagi-chan will get to the bottom of this," only at the door, did she looked at her leg, pry him off with the other leg, not paying attention to his whining, "See ya, dad!" The door slammed close behind her.

"Oh, woe… that stupid boy better have not caught her attention," dramatically sniffling Pegasus chewed at his lacy handkerchief.

"Pegasus-sama?" inquired Crockets.

"Leave now!" shouted Pegasus through tears, pointing towards the door. "I need to lament the loss of my daughter…"

And Crockets promptly did as he was told. He knew better than intrude on Pegasus's fatherly moment. He still remembered how his employer scared away a boy Miss Usagi once brought home from school, just for a study session. And now… Miss Usagi seemed to be obsessed with the boy, who was… sort of a rival for his employer. The ear shattering cries of despair were still heard, even after he closed the door.

And for a second Crockets wondered if the large paycheck was worth the loss of his psychological wellbeing.

* * *

_The pale lavender eyes flashed angrily: 'I will not let him have Serenity. She was supposed to be mine. Always mine. He betrayed her trust once. I will destroy him!' Lightning flashed threateningly in the distance. The man with those pale eyes, wearing the robes of the Head Priest of the White Moon, turned around and disappeared into the darkness._

_Dark burgundy eyes bore into her soul, 'Come forth, Mistress 9. Let us show these mortals what is desperation.' And he extended his hand to her, and she took it, 'My pretty bird…'_

_A woman with cold silver eyes sat upon the throne of the White Moon kingdom, 'I hate the line of Serenity. Send Sailor Moon to the front lines. Let her perish in this war! Then the throne will forever belong to my line.'_

'_I am Zorc Necrophades. Your precious golden warrior has failed to seal all of Chaos.' A large being, black in color, horns on his head, teeth not covered by lips loomed over a white city in the deserts, and the darkness of the night seemed even more dreadful. The light of the moon was covered by a dark shadow, it's surface scarred and even burning in some places._

_Violet eyes so similar to her own glared viciously, 'I gave you to him, because he can bring down the line of Serenity. Because I do not think that girl can save our beloved kingdom!'_

_And in that city one small figure, with a golden item shining bright upon his chest stood._

'_I shall be known as the nameless pharaoh, and we shall be both forever sealed. The price of my memories is what I shall pay!'_

* * *

Hotaru blinked. She was shaking. The vision caught her unprepared. But now she was sure. Her feelings were right. The peace wouldn't last long. She had to find Usagi. So far, if she was the only Senshi that had awoken, it was her duty to protect the princess. She looked up at the moment, and blinked. She saw the scars of war. Where those the scars of war with Beryl?

"The darkness is rising. I can feel it. I must protect the princess," spoke Hotaru quietly to herself. In the distance under the silver light of the moon, something long and gold sparkled.

"Usagi-chan!" The form stopped, it was Usagi.

"Hotaru-chan!" exclaimed Usagi happily, skipping over to hug her. Hotaru returned the hug. But why was Usagi-chan here? Wasn't she staying with the others? Did they chase her away? Violet eyes narrowed in anger, if that was the case…

"Where are you going?"

"I need to find Yugi-kun and the others," explained Usagi.

"Weren't you staying with them?" This was strange. Why was Usagi out here in the middle of the night alone? Didn't she know some dangerous people stalked the night? Like that Player Killer of Darkness, how he liked to call himself. He was… a bit insane… okay, understatement, pretty much insane.

"Yes, I was… but you know… dad called me," Usagi giggled sheepishly.

"Why?"

"To read manga…" deadpanned Usagi.

"…" Well that explained everything. Hotaru started laughing. And here she was worried about Usagi, while Usagi was just spending time with her crazy dad, reading manga.

"What?" whined Usagi, poking the black-haired girl.

"Nothing. Let's go Usagi-chan," Hotaru choked out through laughter, as she wiped her tears away.

* * *

It was just another crazy evening with his friends. Jounoochi was being all goggle-eyed at the pretty blonde in the white corset. Not that he could blame his blonde friend. Mai was very provoking. Very, very provoking. Fighting down a blush, he returned to setting up the tent for the girls. The bushes rustled and jumping away in alarm he narrowed his eyes.

A familiar blonde girl emerged, followed by a black-haired girl. Usagi and Hotaru. The two seemed to be around them a lot. But he didn't mind the least. In fact… Usagi was really pretty. The blonde cheerfully greeted him and the boy fought down a blush.

"Mai-san!" exclaimed the blonde cheerfully, waving to the other blonde girl. The older girl waved back hesitantly.

"Do we really have to stay the night?" it was Hotaru. She eyed Mai with distaste. Yugi sighed: Anzu said that the pale girl harbored some sort of dislike toward the Harpie Duelist. He was in for a long night. His patience was already running short with Honda's and Jounoochi's antics. Yugi picked up a bottle water and started to drink.

"Why must you always argue with your sister?" Usagi whined and Yugi choked on the water, "I always wanted a sister… but you know…"

"But, she's so haughty and vain," bit Hotaru out quietly. Yugi was sure only he heard Hotaru. But… that would mean that Hotaru was a Kujaku. If Mai would have had a younger sister who also dueled, he was sure he would have heard of her.

"I'm sure, that's not all she is," chided Usagi gently, but Hotaru just frowned and didn't say a word, still watching. And somehow at night the dark girl seemed menacing. Her violet eyes were fixated on Mai, who simply looked back with the same violet gaze.

"Oh, look, it's Usagi and Hotaru," Honda and Jounoochi came back from gathering the wood, followed closely by Anzu.

"Did you finish you business, Usagi-chan? You ran off so quickly," Anzu inquired politely, but behind that politeness, Yugi saw distrust in his friend's word. He too wondered what business Usagi may have on this island. It seemed a bit strange, but he still didn't want to take his suspicious as far as Anzu took when she suggested that she may be connected to Pegasus. Usagi seemed just too nice for that.

"Yeah, I did," chirped Usagi.

"Hotaru," spoke the older blonde suddenly. She nodded to Hotaru detachedly.

"Mai." Hotaru's reply was even colder. For a while the two stared each other down and then Mai turned and left, speaking of going for a short walk.

"Is there something going on between them?" whispered Honda to Yugi. The boy shrugged, whispering back: "They are sisters?"

"You've got to be kidding me," exclaimed Jounoochi. As he noticed Usagi's and Hotaru's skeptic faces, he quickly laughed, and made up a story about some bear being trained to go to the toilet, which is unbelievable. As the two girls groaned in annoyance and turned back to the fire, the atmosphere seemed to lighten.

After a while Anzu and Usagi left to take a shower. Yugi tried stirring up a conversation with Hotaru, since she looked as if she was very worried over something. Minutes later they were laughing and excitedly talking about everything in the world.

'_She's not that bad… once you get to know her, a bit overprotective over Usagi perhaps…'_

The bushes rustled, his companion looked up cheerfully, and then frowned: "Who's that?" asked Hotaru. Yugi looked back and much to his surprise he saw his classmate, the white-haired shy boy, who had just transferred from London, and before he could answer, Usagi cheerfully supplied: "That's Bakura-kun, he's also a friend of Yugi-tachi."

"Hey, don't call us that!" admonished Anzu, poking Usagi in the ribs. The blonde giggled. Yes.. everything was fine. And their group was getting bigger and bigger. And only three were duelists. Yugi sighed. Just like it always was… when he started doing something, somehow lots of people got involved…

* * *

They trusted him, so she should too, but after the vision that night, she would not trust this one. His eyes had a mild, soft look to them. But they were the same eyes she saw in her dream. In fact all her Sailor Senshi instincts were screaming for her to fight him.

'_I sense something dark from him. Is this what the vision warned me about?'_

He seemed perfectly normal, just chatting with everyone, and acting all normal. But that was an ideal disguise. And there was also something beneath his shirt, which called out to her. It sort of felt like the golden puzzle Yugi constantly wore on his neck, but… it felt malicious.

"Hey, Jounoochi, which card would you like to be?" asked Bakura suddenly, not paying attention to Hotaru's cold calculative gaze, following his every gesture and movement. She couldn't miss anything. If she paid enough attention, she would be able to notice hints. Subtle hints which could reveal his true intentions.

"From now on, everyone, call me the Flame Swordsman!" Well, he certainly smiled sincerely enough at Jounoochi's exclamation. But still, the Sailor Senshi instincts battled against her common sense.

"What about you?" he asked Honda.

"Cyber Commander!" declared the brown-haired boy, holding out the card.

"Silly boys!" laughed Anzu, and Hotaru relaxed slightly. Perhaps she was just being a bit paranoid after the vision.

"Anzu, but pick up a card for yourself, maybe just for fun," offered Bakura.

'_This is strange.' _She tried to disregard it as paranoia. But why was he so insistent they would pick a card. Anzu wasn't even interested in Duel Monsters.

"Magician of Faith!" declared Anzu.

"You must want to be a very mysterious woman?" joked Jounoochi, earning a slap from Anzu. "Idiots!" she muttered flustered.

"What about you Yugi-kun and Usagi-san?" There it was. Or was she just seeing things. But she swore she saw some unholy spark in those kind eyes. Of course Yugi and Usagi chose the cards she expected them to choose: "Dark Magician!" "Soldier of the Moon!" Bakura's eyes seemed to widen slightly at the card Usagi chose, but then he just smiled, and huddled over with everyone else, who was looking at Usagi's heart.

"Hey, what's that card?"

"I've never seen one like that before," spoke Yugi, leaning in to take the details of Usagi's favorite Duel Monster.

"Oh… one of a kind. Like I said already," the blonde chuckled and turned to Bakura, "What about you, Bakura-san?"

"Change of Heart, Usagi-_hime._ What about you?" Hotaru jolted, she was definite that she didn't miss the strange tone, when he said 'hime'. But… she had to be sure, asking Usagi for her deck, she pulled out her own card representation, if he would react, then… it was definite. She was not paranoid, if he reacted.

"I like a card out of Usagi's deck. Soldier of Silence," but Bakura just smiled and nodded, "A nice choice. Let's play. Me against all of you. You can put your cards in Yugi's deck."

"Ah… can't be happening, I must give Yugi two more cards, one for mine and one for Hotaru's," apologized Hotaru, reached for her deck to tuck the cards back in. And then, for Hotaru it seemed all in slow motion, as Bakura started replying, as he reached for something beneath his shirt.

"Not to worry. We'll consider you a normal card," the dark tones were not missed. And Hotaru cursed herself, as Usagi's innocent inquiry came: "You'll consider me a normal card?" Bakura's eyes narrowed menacingly and his voice sounded like a hiss: "And now, Yugi, there is something I want to show you!" A bright flash of light and Hotaru covered her eyes. A million voices whispered in her ears, and clenching her eyes shut. A dark cackle was heard among these voices and as she opened her eyes, she saw Bakura –, no not Bakura, someone else in his body. She recognized that feeling.

"Finally, the Puzzle is mine," he spoke.

"Hands off, you dirty fiend…" she shouted, and the Dark Bakura looked up in shock.

"What's happening?" a whisper was heard, from the darkness emerged Usagi.

"Usagi-hime! Careful!" shouted Hotaru. She turned her attention away from the Dark Bakura and that was her mistake.

"Nice to see you again, Princess Hotaru and Princess Serenity, and now to the deck with you too! You may have been strong enough to resist the first spell, but not this one!"

A flash of light came from a necklace hanging on his chest, and darkness claimed her mind, the last thing she heard was Usagi's scream of terror.

'_No… I can't fail!'_

* * *

Yet in the darkness another spirit awoke, as it was pulled to the body of his host, when the magic felt that the body lacked a soul. His blood red eyes opened, and for a second he heard the anguished scream of the rabbit.

"Finally. No one to stop me!" an insane voice cackled. The nameless pharaoh recognized the Shadow Realm around him. Fury filled him: once more his friends were dragged into this despicable game. The beloved shadows gathered around him, whispering sweet promises of blood to their master.

"If it's a Shadow Game, I accept your challenge!" Yami announced, standing up, his blood red eyes fixated on his enemy. He froze in shock, as he realized who it was.

"Is that you? Pharaoh? I've been waiting for you for a long time!" this time his opponent was the classmate of his host. His dark burgundy eyes were examining him skeptically, as if judging him. Those eyes, they were familiar. And those eyes invoked a long forgotten feeling of bloodlust within him.

"Bakura! Are you really a Game of Darkness duelist!" asked the ancient spirit angrily, as he observed the opponent.

"Don't you remember, pharaoh?" asked the white-haired boy, his voice wasn't similar at all to Bakura-kun's voice, "You should know that I want the items for myself!" he cackled. An all-knowing smirk was glued to his face and the pharaoh growled in anger. His enemy was mocking his state. This was definitely not Bakura-kun. This being was connected to his past, and somehow he knew that he was also tied to his present state,

"You! Let's play!" It was not his fault he barely remembered everything. The duel started and the enemy was still watching him like a hawk, waiting to strike down. And there was something unpleasant in his smirk.

"I go first! I summon Cyber Commander in defense mode!" announced Yami. Picking Honda's favorite card and summoning it to the field, he certainly didn't expect see his friend appear in the Cyber Commander's outfit on the field, looking just as surprise, as the pharaoh himself was: "Honda-kun!" In shock he watched the tiny form of his friend.

"What the hell is this?" Honda eloquently voiced their thoughts. The brunet looked around warily. The youth stumbled backwards as he saw the gigantic form of Bakura looming over him, and he raised his eyes he also saw Yami. The pharaoh growled in anger. He understood.

"Have all of their souls been stuck in their favorite cards?" suddenly it was clear. The enemy wanted to see his friends die. At his accusation the enemy chuckled.

"You were kind of slow figuring that one out. I remember you being much faster in grasping the truth, pharaoh!" Blood red eyes narrowed in fury. He would not let his friends suffer!

"Bakura, what are you getting at?" The white-haired boy frowned, his scowl so unlike the gentle expression his host's classmate always wore.

"I am not the _Bakura-kun _you know. But never mind that now. My turn, White Magical Hat!" The white-haired boy summoned his monster: a black haired man with a moustache, wearing a white cylinder, a white cloak and a violet suit. "Attack!" And the pharaoh cried out in distress, Honda didn't stand a chance. As his friend screamed and his soul disappeared into the graveyard, Yami clenched his fists in powerless anger.

* * *

**Yami: 1750**

**Bakura: 2000**

* * *

"Just like any other card in duel monster, cards of the soul go to the Graveyard! The Grim Reaper will be arriving there soon," Dark Bakura chuckled, clearly enjoying his desperation.

"Impossible!" breathed out Yami, glaring at the enemy, who just continued cruelly speaking: "If the Cyber Commander is taken, then Honda will truly die!"

The pharaoh clenched his fists even tighter: now the implications dawned on him. The enemy was planning to destroy his friend's souls forever. The nails were biting into his palms, as he visibly shook in fury, as Dark Bakura cackled menacingly, "Finally you get it! But it won't stop the game of darkness! Your turn! What will you do? Whom will you sacrifice next?" Yami's hand trembled, blood leaking from the half-moons left by his nail. A card was drawn…

'_Usagi…'_

Her card even looked similar to her, the same long pale gold hair, and blue ethereal eyes. There was something strange about this card, but its attack stats were great. And also its effect was good. He would summon her. She would no doubt strike down the enemy. He believed in her…

'_I don't know why… but… I feel as if I can place my trust in you and your soldiers…'_

The thought was sudden, almost reminiscent. Soldiers? What was he thinking about? What kind of soldiers could Usagi have? "I play, the Soldier of the Moon!" he announced. And sure enough Usagi appeared, but strangely enough she was not in the Duel Monster's attire, she was wearing the same simple white dress with puffy sleeves she wore in the reality. And her attack was 500 points. Confused she looked around.

"What kind of deceit is this?" shouted Yami angrily, slamming the fist into their makeshift table. Usagi yelped, as his fist landed next to her slot.

"How silly? Did you forget that Sailor Moon needs to transform first?" the dark being chuckled, "You want to send your beloved to the graveyard now?" A nasty smirk was sent towards Yami.

"B-b-beloved?" the pharaoh stuttered in disbelief looking down at the miniature blonde girl, who was confused and distraught. Her eyes were travelling from him to the enemy, wide with fear as she stumbled back, falling.

"What's going on? What is this?" she looked around wildly, and as she saw the White Magical Hat and his dark grin, she froze. The opponent's monster gazed at her, as if she was a mouse and he was cat.

"You don't remember at all?" the spirit chuckled, "Both of you?" his gaze traveled from Yami to Usagi and an evil smile formed on his face, "This makes my life a lot easier!"

"Yami, what is going on?" desperately pleaded Usagi, as she stumbled back to their side of the field, trying to avoid looking towards Bakura.

"I activate Soldier of the Moon's effect by paying 300LP I summon another Soldier from my Deck! Soldier of Silence!" announced Yami. First he had to bring up a good defense to protect Usagi from the monster on the other side of the field, and the Soldier of Silence was strong enough to do it.

* * *

**Yami: 1450**

**Bakura: 2000**

* * *

Usagi yelped in surprise as she started glowing, and an invisible power raised her off the ground, the light reached out into the deck and pulled out a violet orb from there. The orb landed on the field beside Usagi and from there rose the black-haired girl.

And once more Yami cursed. The Soldier of Silence had 2500 ATK points, but Hotaru's ATK points were even lower than Usagi's. She too was dressed in her usual attire, consisting of a black knee-length dress with long sleeves. Hotaru glanced around her gaze guarded, and as she saw Usagi, her eyes widened in fear.

"Hotaru-chan!" cried out Usagi hugging the girl. Yami glanced at the two girls, the White Magical Hat was already cracking his knuckles, and Bakura made a gesture with his thumb about his neck. No, he couldn't allow them also to fall into the graveyard. But what could he do?

"What's going on?" whispered Hotaru to Usagi.

"I have no idea!" said Usagi taking a step back from the middle of the field, as she noted the malicious gaze of the opponent. The black haired girl looked up at him, and then back at Yami: "Is that a large Yugi?"

"That's not Yugi! It's the other one!" spoke Usagi assuredly, a glance was cast to him, and suddenly all her uncertainty was gone. She stood straight and nodded to him. The pharaoh smiled gently to the small blonde, who seemed to be like a fairy with her friend down there on the field. Small and fragile. He had to protect her. And as the amethyst eyed girl glanced up at him, he saw the same in her eyes. She had to protect Usagi also. It was strange, why such a desperate need was within this girl, but he had to figure out a way.

"Hotaru! We must fight this! It's a Shadow Game!" spoke Yami suddenly. The amethyst eyed girl gazed at him doubtfully, and finally nodded hesitantly. The sudden laughter from the other side of the field caught their attention. Bakura seemed to be very happy with something.

"Kukuku! Don't you see?" he waved at the field, "They can't attack! Not until they upgrade, and that will happen if they survive my turn."

"But the power? It's miniscule, we will be beat down," whispered Usagi. She looked up at Yami who trembled in anger. How could he let this being approach them? He already had felt something dark as Bakura-kun arrived, he should have trusted his feelings.

"Do you end your turn?" sneered Bakura. Usagi looked down. Hotaru desperately tried to look brave. And Yami knew he had to do something. He could place them in defense, but at least one of them would be destroyed. He grit his teeth together, raising his hand to announce his move.

"No! We know the words!" suddenly spoke Hotaru. Her eyes were lit with determination. She looked up at him, 'Trust me' were the words she mouthed to him.

"What?" whispered Yami.

"Usagi-chan! Chant the words! Moon Eternal Make Up!" ordered Hotaru, as Yami watched confused the events below. Bakura was also intently observing, but his face didn't show curiosity, instead he was fuming. Apparently, he knew what was going to happen.

"Uh… alright!" mumbled Usagi, "This is a weird dream," she whispered to herself, and Yami smirked. So the rabbit still thought it was a dream. She believed that he was not Yugi, unlike all of his friends, but she couldn't believe in the Shadow Realm. But then again… it would have been better if she never grazed this reality.

"Moon Eternal Make Up!" "Saturn Crystal Make Up!" The yells melted together and colors of all rainbows lit up the shadows of the dark realm, the dark creatures lurking around them pulling away from the bright light. And in that lightshow feather covered Usagi's form and on her back formed a pair of soft fluffy wings, a long pink/red staff appeared in her hands. A wall of purple smoke surrounded Hotaru and from there she stepped out a long staff with a wicked curved blade on top of it. Their outfits were so familiar, it was almost bittersweet.

Usagi's long hair stayed in the hairdo she wore, the two buns with two long streamers. But the hair seemed to have grown to her ankles, and on top of the buns were two round red jewels. A pair of white wing-like pearl clips holding her hair, except the fringe away from her face. In her ears a pair of crescent-star earrings hung. A black sailor-uniform styled collar with three yellow lines, met on her chest with a pink brooch lined by small wings styled as a bow. A red choker with a pink heart and a golden crescent at the base adored her neck. The body was pure white and the sleeves were puffy, light pink, almost white, lined with almost red, dark pink material. On her arms were long white gloves, lined with the same dark pink color and on the lining also jewelry, similar to the clips on her hair were placed. Three ribbons, yellow, white and dark pink, lined the end of the body and the beginning of the skirt. Two thin dark pink ribbons from the base of her back streamed down to her knees. The skirt was multi-layered, yellow, dark pink and black. On her feet were white boots lined with dark pink ribbon, a crescent gleaming in the middle of it.

'_Sailor Moon…'_

Hotaru's forehead was covered by a golden tiara with a violet star-shaped gem in the center of her forehead. A violet choker with a golden star adored her neck. She too had a violet sailor-uniform styled collar, with two white stripes. The puffy sleeves were pale lavender, and her long white gloves were lined with a violet material the same color as her eyes. In the center of her chest was a violet star-shaped gem, holding together a burgundy colored bow. The body of the uniform was also white. A violet, white and lavender ribbon, held by a star in the front ended the body of the uniform. A lavender bow was at the base of her back and two thin violet ribbons streamed to her knees. The skirt was also multi-layered, lavender and blue. Her boots were similar to Usagi's boots. Also white in color, only lined with violet and a golden star instead of a crescent was in front.

'_Sailor Saturn'_

The pharaoh wistfully gazed at the duo. The feeling of nostalgia he experienced shook him to his core. It was as if he had seen them before. In his previous life. But… he was ancient. They couldn't have existed in that distant past.

'_Perhaps… reincarnation.;_

For a moment Dark Bakura observed the transformed girls, his eyes burning in anger. And then the rage disappeared, leaving displeasure, as if he chose to disregard the occurrence: "Ah… Sailor Soldiers… I guess you remember Saturn, but not everything?"

Usagi cast a glance to Hotaru, who was intently glaring at Dark Bakura, partially shielding Usagi from him. Once more Yami noted how vehemently Hotaru guarded Usagi. It was more than just a friendly protection. She was doing this, as if she had done it all her life. Protecting the blonde rabbit.

"What do you mean!" demanded Hotaru angrily. Her stature and demeanor spoke that it was not the first time she had been in such a bizarre, mystical situation. And if Yami would not have been in such a dire situation, he would do all in his power to 'get to the bottom of this', as Usagi told him, she shall.

Her reply only brought their enemy more amusement, as he broke out in maniacal laughter, even as he quieted down, still chuckling he answered: "Doesn't matter, my pretty bird." The words seemed to provoke Hotaru more, as she charged towards Bakura and imminently towards the White Magical Hat. She didn't note the distraught cries of Usagi.

Suddenly black ribbons rose from the ground and encircled Hotaru, pulling her back to her spot, the girl cried out in pain falling to her knees, and Usagi ran over to her, trying to help her friend up. Angrily the blonde glared at the Dark Bakura.

"Ah, you must have forgotten. Soldier of Silence, cannot attack the same turn she was summoned. Which leaves, poor Usagi-hime to attack," the implications dawned on Usagi as she turned to the White Magical Hat.

"I… must attack that man?" whispered Usagi in shock. Yami frowned. Why was she so hesitant? It was a monster… and she had to attack. The girl took a step forward and on that field she seemed so tiny, that even the White Magical Hat loomed over her.

'_Why is she so fragile, while her friend acts like a battle-hardened warrior…'_

"Usagi-hime, do not be scared!" whispered Hotaru breathlessly, from her place on the ground. The pain was still coursing through her body.

"Sailor Moon!" for some reason, that name seemed right to Yami, it just was, and as Usagi looked up at him, her eyes scared, he repeated the name, "Sailor Moon," and for some reason once more she looked courageous, with determined eyes she turned back to the suit-wearing monster, "Attack!" declared Yami.

She closed her eyes in concentration, and when they opened once more, she brought forth her staff, "Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!" shouted Sailor Moon and a bright light engulfed the field. It wasn't harsh. It wasn't cold. It wasn't burning. No, it was soft and gentle, like the moonlight.

'_Marvelous… this… this light invokes a feeling within me…'_

* * *

**Yami: 1450**

**Bakura: 1500**

* * *

Dark Bakura glanced detachedly at Sailor Moon. Yami frowned. "Well, that was a nice turn. I place one card face down. And end my turn!" The dark spirit was planning something. He glanced at the opponent: he was way too calm. It was even strange. Yami drew a card, the Flaming Swordsman, he frowned. Perhaps it would be better if he kept the card in the hand now.

The black ribbons receded from Hotaru, and the girl charged toward Bakura's face down card, her face twisted in anger, "I'm attacking now!" She growled, her glaive rose and lowered, before Yami could even stop her. Before she even noticed the satisfied smile on Dark Bakura's lips.

"No! Hotaru-san!" cried out Yami, but it was too late. The black goo from the jar screeched and disappeared to the graveyard. But its effect was activated nonetheless.

"Morphing Jar! Damnit! Yugi?" cursed Hotaru, kicking the dust, into which the monster turned. The pharaoh cursed as he discarded his hand, drawing once more the cards. Now he had two of his friends stuck in the graveyard. What could he do? He only had one Monster Reborn. His face must have revealed his feelings, as the tiny form of Usagi walked over to him, "Yami, don't tell me you had somebody there!" she begged.

"Jounoochi-kun!" he muttered angrily. He was angry at himself that he hesitated bringing the boy out. It was his hesitation that brought this upon his friend.

"Oh, no!" whispered Usagi in despair. He glanced at the tiny fairy-like girl, and her sorrowful gaze tore down through his defenses. Those blue eyes, with hints of tears forming in them… why did she seem so familiar to him?

"In one turn you may activate my effect to bring a card back!" suddenly spoke Hotaru. Yami looked at Usagi, if she would confirm the effect of the Soldier of Silence, then it could work, if he got a Monster Reborn in time. The girl brightened up and nodded, as she quickly went over the basics of summoning the dead with the help of the Soldier of Silence.

"Alright," his confidence was returning to him, by the time he cast a glance to the cards he drew, hoping none of his friends was there, as Bakura looked through his own cards.

'_Dark Magician!'_

"My turn. One card face down and one here. End turn!" announced Bakura.

'_It would be dangerous to keep Yugi here.'_

The Dark Magician, it was powerful, just as powerful as the Soldier of Silence. These two would provide excellent backup for Soldier of the Moon. "I summon Dark Magician!" He grinned in satisfaction as the shadow powers howled in delight, as the host of their master in the attire of their favored warrior appeared. Hotaru looked in surprise between the two of them. And Usagi smirked up at him. The favor was returned. He knew what she was thinking about. She had caught him red-handed, but not that he ever tried to deny the truth and hide it from her. He just couldn't. She saw through the magic.

"Two Yugi's?" she whispered in wonder, idly the pharaoh noted, Hotaru didn't seem as surprised as she should have been.

"I told you so!" exclaimed Usagi, as Yugi sweatdropped.

"Usagi-hime, you are quite observant. Have you been the only one until now?" the cold voice cut through their cheerful disposition. Usagi looked at the spirit, her eyes narrowed in distrust, even as she nodded in reply, "Yes." She still was watching him, as a satisfied smirk graced his lips. Yami glared at the dark one.

'_There… again… why do I call him that? Perhaps the forgotten memories are trying to come forth?'_

"Mou hitori no boku," Yami looked down at his host, and shook his head, giving him the name, he gave to Usagi, "Yami, call me Yami." He couldn't stay forever 'the other me'. He was not Yugi. He was himself. Even if he didn't remember who he was. The tiny form of his host smiled at him, nodding in acceptance of his name. Yami smiled. They could make it now. He was sure.

He picked a card from his hand and placed it on the field. It was time to bring back one of his friends.

"Now I use Monster Reborn to raise Honda-kun from the dead!" A bright light filled the field, as his friends covered their eyes.

"Good, but now you left Jounoochi there all alone," taunted Bakura.

"You forget my effect!" shouted Hotaru.

"If he lasts until the next turn," the enemy smirked.

'_He has to… he just has to…'_

The light faded away and Honda appeared. He looked around disoriented, and promptly fell onto his butt as he saw Yami looming over him, and Yugi garbed in Dark Magician's clothes waving at him.

"Yugi, is that another you up there?" he whispered in shock.

"Yes… I will not keep it to myself any longer," Yugi looked up to him, as if asking if it is alright. Yami nodded to his host, and Yugi continued, "He is a soul that rests within the puzzle."

"Alright. That explains it," murmured Hotaru. Her eyes were dark.

"Explains what?" asked Yami. He had to be wary of this one. She didn't fall to Bakura's spell, and she seemed to know more that she put on. A quick glance was cast to Usagi, could Hotaru be an enemy, even if she protected the other girl?

"The differences!" exclaimed Usagi to him, "Hm, maybe in this dream I am getting a revelation!" she chided.

"This is not a dream," said Yami, fixing his red eyes upon Usagi, as he chuckled lowly. The adorable rabbit became pale at his declaration, as she shook her head and turned back to the opponent.

"Or is it?" she whispered. And yet he still heard her.

"Time to continue the duel! Dark Magic Attack!" shouted Yugi. The same monster which brought Jounoochi to the graveyard appeared and screeched. Yami sighed in relief. This time he didn't have any of his friends in his hand. And next turn he would retrieve Jounoochi from the graveyard.

"Oh no! Another Morphing Jar! Is Anzu safe?" exclaimed Yugi, he looked up in worry.

"Yes, she hadn't appeared in my hand yet." Yami discarded the hands and drew more. His eyes widened in fear, as he saw the Magician of Faith. _'Oh no…' _This didn't go unnoticed by the spirit of the Ring, who sniggered nastily: "I take it you drew a nice hand. Well I activate this trap card. Just Desserts! Pity that the Sailor Senshi are not affected by such cards. Or else you would have lost!" The card flipped over and a ghostly hand reached out to Yami, grabbing him and sucking at his life, he groaned in pain, clutching his hand.

* * *

**Yami Bakura: 1500**

**Yami Yugi: 450**

* * *

"I end my turn…" grit out Yami. He ignored the worried glances of his friends. They couldn't know, how much it hurt. They would be too worried. But right now they had to pay attention to the battle.

"I place one card face-down," announced Bakura placing another monster card. Yami was pretty sure that monster was another effect monster, which would target his friends. And once again Bakura ended his turn without doing anything.

"I activate Soldier of Silence's power and bring back Jounoochi from the graveyard."

Hotaru's body started pulsing with a bright violet color. The girl raised the glaive above her head and chanted some words, which were incomprehensible to him. Dark mist formed in the last free slot of the game field and from that rose Jounoochi. Just as the Yugi he was dressed in the outfit of his chosen monster.

"Wha! What's going on?" he looked around, visibly freaking out.

"Jounoochi! You're back," Honda punched his friend. Trust those two, to make humor in any situation.

"Two Yugis?" as Jounoochi looked up in disbelief; Yugi started explaining the situation to him. Yami smiled. It was nice to have accepting friends, but as he reached to place Magician of Faith to the field, he noted that he had no more free slots left.

"Damn it!" a string of curse words left his mouth.

"What's wrong?" questioned Yugi frantically. He must have shown his desperation pretty badly, if they started worrying.

"I can't protect Anzu! There are five of you guys on the field!" gritted out Yami, glaring at Dark Bakura whose face twisted into a glorious grimace. The enemy was probably already gloating the demise of his next friend.

"No! What will we do now?" panicked Yugi.

Usagi looked down for a second, and then shouted to Yami: "You can switch me to defense position. And then I can go to the magic field."

"What?" this was a rather strange effect. Yami blinked in wonder.

"Soldier of the Moon is a special card," explained Usagi patiently, "After she has been summoned she can be switched over to the magic card zone. This card is strong if it is with her friends. But separated from them and her support she is weak. So you can switch me there."

'_You were always strong. Even when separated from the others. While to others you may have seemed weak, but your heart was always in the right place… there… again… these strange thoughts. Who is really the spirit, possessing Bakura? Who are Hotaru and Usagi? Why do I think these things I don't know? I don't know how strong her heart is… yet I am sure that everything that appears within my mind is correct… a spell… how can I trust in her so easily…'_

Yami nodded to her and as she walked to the magic/trap card zone, he murmured, "I don't think you are weak…" She glanced up, her cheeks pink. He smiled at her and placed the Magician of Faith to the slot where Usagi stood before.

"Guys?" Yami sweatdropped as his friends ran over to the face-down Anzu, and tried to hold her down. Didn't she know the purpose of face-down monsters?

"Anzu, stay down!" whispered Yugi frantically. Yami glanced at Dark Bakura who looked as if he didn't notice anything. But no doubt the dark spirit was trying to deceive him.

"Eh! Why are you all dressed up?" asked Anzu in wonder.

"Quiet, or else Bakura will hear you!" hissed Jounoochi.

"Bakura? What do you mean?"

"Right now, we're in the Duel Monsters world!" spoke Yugi.

"What!" cried out the brunette.

"Bakura is controlled by a violent spirit. I regret that I couldn't protect you and Usagi-hime as my duty is," suddenly spoke Hotaru.

"Hotaru-chan?" Usagi looked over to her in question, but the black-haired girl looked down either in shame or fluster. _'Again… this time she clearly spoke of a duty… and even a duty to Yugi, Jounoochi, Anzu and Honda… who is she?'_

"Why are there two Yugis?"

"That's… the other me," spoke Yugi.

"The spirit of the puzzle," said Usagi looking at Yami, a distant look in her eyes.

"I don't get it myself. But I call them the 'cool Yugi'," laughed Jounoochi, gesturing at Yami, "and the 'normal Yugi'," he waved at Yugi. Yami chuckled at the allegation.

"Don't say that!" replied Yugi scathingly.

"Alright! Alright!" snickered Jounoochi.

"I'll show you how cool can I be!" announced Yugi. He charged towards the face-down Bakura laid down in his previous turn and extending his right hand, called out the name of his attack.

"Hurray!" cheered Usagi, as the monster flipped and cried out in pain. Yet, her joy was gone the moment Yugi fell to his knees in pain.

"No! Yugi! That is an effect monster," cried out Hotaru, "Now you can't attack during the next turn!" Yami frowned. What was Bakura trying to do? He had Hotaru as backup. She was just as strong as Dark Magician.

"My body… it is paralyzed!" Anzu cried out and tried to crawl from beneath her card once more, when Yugi fell, but Jounoochi and Honda stopped her. Though their efforts to hide her, were in vain. Or Dark Bakura just simply chose that moment to mock them some more.

"Is that dear Sailor Sennyo, Anzu-chan?" Bakura sneered at their antics. The name he called Anzu seemed familiar. Sailor Fairy. Sailor Saturn. Sailor Moon. It all seemed to be connected to his past. How else Yami could explain this strange emotion. The emotion as if he met old friends once more. As if this had been destined.

"Sailor Sennyo?" questioned Hotaru in puzzlement. Though it was strange that Hotaru didn't seem to recognize that name. While she certainly knew the names Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn. This title was obviously unknown to her.

"All will be revealed in the end, my pretty bird!" mocked Bakura. And this was it. Her violet eyes widened in shock, as she froze over, the epithet hitting a sore point. Yami narrowed his eyes at the soldier, or perhaps she heard it somewhere before.

"Don't call me that, you villain!" exclaimed Hotaru angrily.

"And weren't you once a villain too? Dear Mistress 9?" the black haired girl froze in shock, turning pale as a sheet.

"Hotaru-chan?" asked Usagi worriedly.

"Mistress 9? This name sounds familiar?" whispered Yami.

"Guys, this is confusing! What's going on?" mumbled Anzu, as she tried to get out.

"Stay still, Anzu-chan!" whispered Jounoochi.

"I am not her! Nor shall I ever be again! I am Sailor Saturn!" Hotaru shouted angrily. Her eyes ablaze with wrath. She set out her glaive ready to attack once more.

"Wait, Sailor Saturn!" suddenly spoke the Spirit of the Ring.

"What?" spat Hotaru.

"This card will be another Man-Eater Bug!" everybody froze, the Man Eater's Bug effect was widely known, "What now? As soon as you attack I shall send Serenity-hime to the graveyard." Yami frowned, there weren't any Serenities here.

"Oh, no!" whispered Hotaru, as she looked back at Usagi, who was also trembling. So, she was Serenity.

"So, what will it be? You can stall, but mark my words, next turn I shall flip it anyways! And… guess who's going to be sent to the graveyard!" his finger pointed to the blonde, who was trying to look brave, trying not to lose her determination.

"Don't you dare touch Usagi-hime!" announced Hotaru angrily. If Yami would have had less dignity, he would have cried out in despair, as the thought of Usagi ending up in the graveyard raised an unexplainable feeling of hopelessness and anguish within him. It was as if… something truly horrible would happen if she ended up there.

"Other Yugi?" Sailor Saturn's voice rang clearly in this darkness, "Sacrifice me! We have to do something! Or else he's going to use it next turn anyways!" He looked down at her in shock. The black-haired girl was standing proudly, her glaive held firmly in her hand.

"No!" cried out Usagi.

"There must be another way!" shouted Jounoochi.

"Well?" and still Sailor Saturn paid no attention to anyone. The confidence never once faded from her eyes.

"Alright!" How could he not accept her valiant sacrifice? Who was he to deny her heart's desire? If he didn't know the circumstances of her vehement protection of the rabbit, how could he stand between her and her duty.

"Hotaru-chan!" cried out Usagi in distress, as the black-haired girl charged towards the face-down card. This would hurt Usagi the most. The numbly touched the surface of the card which he would flip. For some reason they both needed to protect Usagi. For some reason, if the owner of that bright pure energy ended up dead, it would have dreadful consequences. The glaive was brought down and the large insect with sharp teeth appeared in front of Sailor Saturn.

'_I will not doubt my instincts. I knew from the first glance that she was different… and if Sailor Saturn is ready to sacrifice her soul for her wellbeing, then… it must be important… I will find it out eventually…'_

"Do it!" The black-haired girl brought up a violet shield and struggled to hold it, as the Man-Eater's Bug effect tried to break through her defense. And still he hesitated. It was not the way he did things.

"Do it for the princess!" yelled Sailor Saturn. And with a heavy heart Yami obeyed.

'_For your princess…'_

"I activate the Horn of Heaven and negate the Flip Summon of the Man-Eater's bug!" The light from the spell card engulfed both of them and they disappeared, both: the monster and Hotaru. Usagi let out a distraught cry as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face, "Now she's stuck there! How could you!" Her accusing eyes turned to him.

"She did it for you," stated Yami solemnly, looking away. He couldn't look her in the eyes. Not right now.

"No!" sobbed Usagi. Her heart-wrecking sobs were silenced by the insane maniacal laughter from Dark Bakura. And even as they all glared at him, she still couldn't look up.

"Hotaru-chan…" as everyone's attention turned away from her, Anzu had crawled out from beneath her card, and she too was crying, at Hotaru's sacrifice, and as the first tear fell she started radiated a calm and pleasant light. And only then Sailor Moon looked up.

'_It is not the moonlight… but… another light…'_

"She's glowing!" whispered Usagi through her sobs.

"Anzu's card effect is activated! Mou hitori no boku! Use it!" shouted Yugi.

"I bring back Monster Reborn! And activate it!" And in the empty slot Hotaru once more appeared, kneeling as she cradled her glaive. Sobbing Usagi ran over to Hotaru tackling the girl. A soft smile grazes Yami's lips. Breaking away from Hotaru, Usagi pounced on Anzu, frantically thanking her.

"Anzu, thank you! Thank you." repeated Usagi over and over again, through tears, as she hugged the magician.

"Ah, Usagi-chan? No need to thank me," said Anzu, as she hugged Usagi back, she pulled away and examined the multicolored winged outfit Usagi wore, "You have such a strange outfit."

"Yes, this is a strange dream," supplied Usagi, wiping away the last remains of her tears.

"Dream?" whispered Anzu.

"I end my turn," announced Yami. Anzu glanced up and blinked in surprise. She looked back and forth between Yugi and Yami, earning giggles from Usagi.

"Why are there two Yugis?" inquired Anzu.

"It's a long and difficult story, Anzu-chan," Yugi chuckled sheepishly.

"It's strange that you got your cards so quickly out of the cemetery," murmured Dark Bakura angrily glaring at Yami.

"You cannot beat the power of unity!" spoke the pharaoh.

'_Nor can you beat the powers of Sailor Senshi…'_

"Unity? Frienship? How silly! I'll show you the power of terror," Bakura hollered, "Lady of Faith, come forth!"

"Pft, silly evil spirit! That card is weak!" giggled Usagi, her previous anguish forgotten. Scathing glare was directed at her and she gulped in fear.

"And then I play this card." The dark one showed his card. The Change of Heart.

"No!" muttered Yami. He could take any card on the field and control it now. Dark Bakura would definitely take Yugi or Hotaru. Kill the weaker ones and then kill both of the stronger ones.

'_No… no… no, I can't let it happen… but what can I do?'_

"Hm, whom should I take, little Yugi or the pretty bird," mumbled Dark Bakura as he glanced between the two, "While it would be infinitely fun watching little Yugi murder his friends, I think I'll delight more in watching Sailor Saturn kill Sailor Moon."

"That's cruel!" cried out Hotaru in despair, moving in front of Usagi wielding her glaive protectively. But this time Usagi moved to stand beside her, smiling in encouragement.

'_No. I cannot lose! Too many lives depend on this game!'_

"When are you going to stop that madness?" demanded the pharaoh angrily.

"You can say whatever you want. But your friendship is over! Perish in despair!" announced the evil spirit. A bright light blinded them all, and there in the magic/trap card zone stood the gentle Bakura dressed in the outfit of the girl on the Change of Heart. But instead of hovering over to Hotaru who was holding her glaive in front of her, ready to defend her soul, he took over the Lady of Faith.

"Bakura-kun?" whispered Yugi in disbelief, "His soul was also sealed in the card!" exclaimed the boy angrily.

"Yugi-kun! Attack me!" And they froze.

"Hurry! Attack me and defeat the evil spirit!" declared the gentle Bakura again.

"But if I do that, your soul will…" murmured Yugi gently.

"It doesn't matter. I can't go on being controlled by an evil heart," announced the gentle Bakura.

"Bakura-kun… I can't do it!" shouted Yugi, clenching his eyes close and shaking his head.

* * *

This Dark Game of despair it was becoming too dangerous. She had to do something. Sailor Moon was powerless without her memories. Sailor Moon couldn't save him. Saturn was even surprised she called out the right attack before. But this boy… Bakura-kun, he was being controlled by the dark spirit above them. She knew how it felt… she couldn't let him suffer… She had to 'save' him herself.

"I can!" she announced a dark voice. A short cry of 'no' was heard from her winged companion.

"Hotaru!" exclaimed Yugi in shock. They didn't understand. They didn't know the feeling of despair when you act against the people who were kind to you. They didn't know the feeling of hopelessness when you killed your closest friend. When you fought against your princess. They didn't know that feeling…

"I know the pain of being controlled by an evil being. I won't let you get away with it!" the Senshi of Saturn shouter angrily. She clutched her glaive. It was important. She had to. Closing her eyes, she prepared to call out the attack. And then the power within her Sailor Crystal resonated with three more souls in the room.

A bright glow started coming from Usagi, as her eyes were clasped together in prayed in front of her brooch. Her hair flowed in tune with the energy radiating from her and her lips were moving chanting quickly a prayer in the lunarian language.

A glowing eye of horus appeared on the Other Yugi's forehead, as his eyes were too closed. He seemed to be chanting also a prayer, but in a language unfamiliar to Hotaru. And still… their prayers seemed to resonate with each other and then the two golden items on each spirit's neck began to glow. She felt her own Sailor Crystal resonate in answer to Sailor Moon's prayer and a bright flare blinded them all. When it all came down, it was as if nothing happened… yet something was different.

* * *

"Huh?" and as Yami cast a glance at the Lady of Faith, he saw the evil spirit there. The game had turned around. He shook off the feeling of eternal power and pointed at the enemy.

"That's it! Sailor Saturn! Attack the evil spirit!" The girl also recovering from the shock, charged towards Dark Bakura, without any feelings of regret: "It's impossible!" murmured Bakura in shock, as a bright violet energy sphere collided with him. And as his soul was sent to the graveyard the Shadow Game ended. The darkness faded and the forest came back to vision. The moon shone brightly down on them. Bakura, Yugi, Hotaru and Usagi looked around warily. The nightmare ended. A satisfied smirk crossed the pharaoh's features, as he faded a bit more into the shadows. The enemy was gone and the demons were gone, so he as one of them should also retreat. As soon as he made sure everything was fine.

"Is everyone alright? Where are the other guys?" asked Usagi, she was still in the strange uniform. She glanced behind and sighed in relief, as she noted Anzu, Honda and Jounoochi peacefully sleeping on the grass. They were unharmed.

"Everything will return to normal," spoke Hotaru suddenly. She too was still in that outfit. The outfit of a Sailor Senshi.

"Hotaru… you're still…" murmured Usagi in awe. Yami nodded idly to himself, this proved to him, that Usagi had no idea about this Sailor Senshi gig, nor about her powers. Then Hotaru could be her silent guard.

"I am Sailor Saturn, and you, my dear princess, need not to remember this event," spoke Hotaru solemnly, touching Usagi's forehead, where the crescent gently glowed. The uniform suddenly became a flurry of pink ribbons and the ribbons formed once more the simple dress Usagi wore before. Her blue eyes became blank and the golden crescent faded. And her eyes closed, as she began to fall.

'_Perhaps Sailor Saturn is right. You do not need to be drawn into the Shadow Games…'_

"Huh? What did you do to Usagi-chan?" shouted Yugi in worry, as the blonde collapsed. He knelt by her side, checking over the vital signs. Yami smiled gently at Yugi. His host was righteous and just. He sometimes didn't understand the need to sacrifice, the need to interfere. The pharaoh glanced at Sailor Saturn, examining the power the black-haired girl emitted.

'_Yes… perhaps my wariness of you, was because you are also dark…'_

"I erased the memories of this event. I don't want her to remember everything yet," spoke Hotaru, no, she wasn't Hotaru. She was definitely Sailor Saturn, the warrior that valiantly put her life in front of Usagi's, not knowing whether she would be able to return or not.

"That isn't yours to decide," spoke Bakura lowly, as he glanced at Hotaru warily.

"Just as you two have a dark secret, so have we. But we are the protectors of this world. And Usagi-chan… she's my princess, to her lies my duty and most of all, she's my friend. I am Sailor Saturn, her guardian and protector. The soldier of ruin," spoke Hotaru.

"Sailor Saturn," the title seemed foreign to the ears, as Bakura spoke it, "If you are the protector of this world, perhaps it would be better I gave you this," he reached to the ring that hung on his neck innocently.

"What is it?" asked Sailor Saturn. From his hiding place Yami sighed in relief. She didn't know about the Sennen Items. Well… it was nice to have another potential ally… if she wasn't after the puzzle, then for now she wasn't an enemy.

"The Sennen Ring. It is another Sennen Item, like the one Yugi has," explained the white-haired boy gently, but in his voice fear lived as he clutched the golden item, which glinted innocently under the moonlight.

"With these items terrible games, the Shadow Games can be held. In these Shadow Games, souls are stolen," spoke Yugi sadly.

"Perhaps…" Sailor Saturn reached out to the ring, but suddenly she pulled away "no, the Ring chose you for some reason. And besides, I have this ominous feeling."

"Then perhaps it is better you'd store it somewhere safe. If I had not been able to resist the spirit…" mumbled Bakura.

"No!" spoke Hotaru firmly. The girl hesitated for a moment, as if searching for words, or questioning herself for a second.

"The Spirit of the Ring knew about my alter-ego. A long time ago I had been possessed by a demon from another world. Mistress 9. He knew about her. It is not safe. While the spirit of the ring is someone whom I can beat, but Mistress 9…" this time her voice was softer, as she looked down.

"Alright," Bakura looked down in defeat.

"Sailor Saturn, I have another thing to tell you. The host of this event is also connected to the Shadow Games," said Yugi.

"Pegasus?" whispered Sailor Saturn in shock.

"Yes. This is the reason why we are here. He stole my grandfather's soul to challenge the spirit of the Sennen Puzzle," Yugi's fists clenched together, as the boy looked at the castle looming over the island threateningly.

"This is disturbing," murmured Saturn as she followed his gaze.

"Why?"

"Usagi-chan is…" she frowned, but didn't finish her sentence, "never mind. Please keep my secret, as I shall keep yours. For the while consider me an ally. I shall leave to investigate Pegasus-san. By all means keep Usagi-chan away from the castle." Yami frowned. Usagi was connected to Pegasus. That much he understood now. But how… she certainly wasn't the enemy. Her eyes showed that. She couldn't bear to see violence or death, so she was definitely not in the league with him. He glanced over to the pale golden hair with seemed to glint in the moonlight with silver.

There was something nagging at the back of his head… but he couldn't just explain it.

"But if she gathers the needed starchips…"

"Keep her away until I come back. She is important to the future. It would have been easier if the Prince would have been here. But he is not. Can I trust you with her wellbeing, spirit?" she turned to the shadows. Yami smirked. So she noticed him. How long had she known he had been there? He slowly strode out of the shadows, and let the moonlight illuminate his transparent form.

"Is that?" whispered Bakura.

"Mou Hitori no Boku…" Yami smiled at Yugi, and then turned back to Sailor Saturn.

"Sailor Saturn, I swear on my soul that I shall keep her safe," he honestly didn't try to sound foreboding, but… his voice just came out as a low hiss, the power reacting to his vow, as the shadows danced around them, circling around Usagi, remembering their new protégé. The amethyst eyed soldier nodded. His answer satisfied her.

"Good. Speak nothing of this to her. And…" Sailor Saturn turned back to glance at the spot where Anzu, Jounoochi and Honda lay.

"Yes?"

"Your friends are about to awaken." The soldier flashed them a V-sign and jumped up into the air. And into the darkness of the night she seemed to melt away. And into the shadows Yami faded away, letting the puzzle call him back to his resting place.

But he would not rest. He would watch and protect the blonde haired girl. Just as he promised. And… most of all… if Pegasus would find out about her power, no doubt he would try to use her. He would keep Usagi out of Pegasus's hands.

Across the sky five stars of different color streaked across the sky. Blue, Green, Orange, Red and Grey.

* * *

**End Chapter 2**

* * *

**_05/11/2010_**_ – My back hurts and my right hand is practically falling off. Next chapter:_

_Enter the Sailor Senshi team.  
Sailor Saturn investigates the castle of Pegasus.  
Enter Seto Kaiba.  
Yugi-tachi plus Usagi get stuck in the caves, but there is more in the caves than just the Meikyuu (Paradox) brothers.  
The destined duel between Yugi and Kaiba._

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the Duelist Kingdom.**

**So, motivate the author to continue this fairly difficult project.**

**Review please. **

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	4. 3: Revelations After the Strife

**_06/04/2011 – _**_Woohoo. Just as promised, I finished this chapter. Though once more, had to cut it short and move some events to the next chapter, since there was just too much going on.  
Well, here you go. The super-awesome next installment of Acheron: Infinitas._

* * *

Thanks to all those who reviewed this story: **Umiki **(I would think that Pegasus/Usagi are pretty unruly when hanging out together, because Usagi likes manga and so does Pegasus, and they're pretty silly. But thank you for the compliment ^_^, I am happy that my story is one of the really good ones), **Pershephone Perez Pott **(Fury of God Cards, Spirits of Shadow Realm, _Negaverse (?)_, Dark Moon Circus, well, kind of fun, but not the Negaverse part, dub villains do not scare me, ahahahah), **SailorVmoon1311815 **(Hahaha, well her cover is blown in this chapter, enjoy :D), **AtemUsagiFan3712 **(TV show… 0-ponders- I wouldn't miss one second either), **Anime Princess **(the path to true love is not easy), **wildflower1014, Failisse **(thanks darling), **Kochou-hime **(here you go, update your story too!) **, Saris Yui **(^_^)**, Cosmic-lover **(just tell me if it starts getting boring)**, Scarlet Moon **(I have more of Yami/Usagi in my profile, do read)**, angel313 **(thanks)**, smfan **(I dislike English names, I use only Japanese names, so you'll have to get used :D), **Kazukimi **(Yes, Hotaru has to protect Usagi, that she had promised, she's sooo cute, I also hope Pegasus will survive), **Alycee Lanet**

* * *

**_Japanese names vs. dub names (first name is highlighted):_**

**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_

**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

_Crockets (Croquets)_

_Ghost Kotsuzuka (Bonz)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

* * *

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

_'Remembering the past… how unlike me.'_

The wind gently caressed the golden strands of her hair. How ironic that Hotaru was her sister. The girl seemed to have been awakened, she felt the energy of her Sailor Crystal, constantly pulsing and reminding her just who she was herself. Mai frowned: she still remembered. She still bore her sin. The gods had probably made Hotaru her younger sister to atone for the sins she committed that time around. And now… everyone was gathering together. Anzu was here too: how she wished she could talk with the girl again. But to this Anzu she was just an annoying stuck-up bitch. And even though this Hotaru was born as her sister, it seemed as if at that time five years ago, when she reawakened as Sailor Tori, one of the Guardians of Shadow Realm, the small black-haired child started disliking her. As if she _knew _what Mai had done back then.

A sign escaped her lips as she ran a hand through the golden locks. All this time she was trying to fix the mistakes she had done back then. She tried to befriend the boy who had the spirit of the pharaoh, she didn't tease Jounoochi as much as she had done in the past, and when she saw a news announcement about Usagi S. Crawford attending a private school, immediately recognizing her as Serenity, she found out through lies and bribes where the girl attended, and sent Hotaru to that school.

That made her sister despise her even more. The black-haired girl just thought she was a burden to Mai. But… it was just that each time Mai saw those violet eyes, she remembered _that change. _And Mai had to send Hotaru to Serenity. Because in the end Hotaru and Serenity would remember just as they were fated to do and Hotaru would leave her. She wouldn't be Hotaru's big sister anymore. She hadn't been since she reawakened.

_'Traitor' _her mind whispered ominously.

Hotaru never knew that she worked her ass of on many cruises as a card-dealer earning the money needed to keep Hotaru with the other Sailor Senshi. It was better off this way. Mai could deal with that contemptuous gaze any day. She deserved every bit of it. A branch cracked behind her and instantly the blonde woman whirled around, her leg immediately going up, as she executed a kick to the one who dared to creep up on her - her kick was blocked by the thick hand of a burly man, who had scars over his eyes. He wore a navy cloak and on both hands he had duelist gloves with two rows instead of one. So this was a Player Killer. Just like _her._

"You are a Player Killer," dryly spoke the female duelist. A nasty smirk crossed the man's features. So he thought she would loose. How naïve. Perhaps before her reawakening she could have lost. But not anymore. She wouldn't loose. Even though she was…

_A failure, a traitor, a liar, the unworthy one._

* * *

The light of the giant LCD screen shed sinister shadows upon Pegasus J. Crawford's face, as he observed with mild boredom the shadowed faces of his conspirators - the Big Five of Kaiba Corporation.

"Kaiba Seto is making his way to my island," said Pegasus evenly.

_'Do not worry. We shall attack immediately and Kaiba will never make it to the Duelist Kingdom.'_

"No," drawled out Pegasus, twirling the wine glass he held in his hand, observing the fluid motions of the wine inside it, "you shouldn't attack."

_'Why is that?'_

"Have patience. Once I defeat Yugi-boy our contract shall be concluded."

_'If you would have disposed of Kaiba immediately…'_

"Fear not! Kaiba shall not rescue his little brother. And not only the Kaiba Corporation but also his genius will belong to us."

Unbeknown to the conspirators behind the half-closed door stood a certain black-haired Senshi of destruction.

_'What's this? Pegasus-san is planning to overtake Kaiba Corporation. Well that would explain the kidnapping of Mokuba. But the sealing of the souls? I have a feeling it is all connected.'_

Frowning Hotaru started creeping away from the door, pretty sure she hadn't been noticed, yet behind her the hinges of the door screeched and a pleasant voice spoke to her:

"Miss Hotaru?"

"Pegasus," bit out the girl twisting around.

"This area is forbidden. Why are you here?" he asked smiling pleasantly, as if the conversation he held with the unknown people before never happened.

"I got lost," replied Hotaru. Pegasus frowned and adjusted his hair and the next moment Hotaru noticed that strange glow from his golden eyes.

_'That power, the same as that Spirit's.'_

"You're lying," suddenly shouted Pegasus and an unexpected surge of magic from him pushed Hotaru backwards - the Senshi barely holding her ground, "and you have instructed _the pharaoh _to hide _my daughter_ from me!" The man growled and extended his hand and only Hotaru's warrior reflexes saved her from a fatal hit in the form of another pulse of power: "I'll have to deal with your interference, Miss Kujaku!" whispered the white-haired man angrily.

"I insist, Pegasus-san, turn back before it's too late," Hotaru summoned her Henshin stick and readied herself, "For my princess's safety is top priority." Her opponent stilled as the same ambient power enveloped the hall once more, his face becoming slightly intrigued, "The road you are following will only cause us to become your enemy, for the princess's sake, please stop!" pleaded Hotaru. How could she fight her princess's father? She couldn't! Usagi would hate her if something happened to him because of her.

"What's this? Sailor Senshi?" murmured Pegasus and Hotaru froze.

"How did you -"

"How did I know about these Sailor Senshi, whoever they are? How did I know about your treachery?" chirped Pegasus, "Well, that's a secret!" he stated and the battle begun.

* * *

The night went on pretty uneventfully. Mai had briefly returned to tell them that she was going on forward, since she had almost all needed starchips; Anzu had went off to sleep in the tent; Usagi was still knocked out of it after the battle with Yami Bakura and Ryou and Yugi were watching her from afar, as she lay on top of blankets, the half-transparent form of Yugi's partner, the spirit who told them to call him Yami, loomed over her watchfully.

"She is still sleeping. Why doesn't she wake up?" murmured Yugi, as he glanced anxiously at the blonde girl. Every once in a while in her sleep Usagi would frown and emit a small whimper, causing the spirit to move in closer to her, as she shifted herself more to him, calming down for a while.

"That event must have taken out a lot from her?" replied Ryou, he glanced at Yami uncomfortably and then whispered: "Yugi-kun, why did the other you so easily agree to protect her?"

"I really have no idea," replied Yugi, shrugging. The short boy was still not quite sure what he thought about this situation. All those times he blacked out when he was in danger – was that the doing of this spirit that lived in the Puzzle. Now that he thought of it, it was after he completed the puzzle that Jounoochi and Honda stop teasing him. And they didn't like Anzu back then either, because she always stopped their games.

The memory of that day was hazy as Yugi struggled desperately to remember what happened to that other guy. Ushio – the public moral service leader of their school - that guy had beaten up Jounoochi and Honda for bullying him and then told Yugi he owed him money. Back then he tried to protect Jou and Honda but ended up beaten as well, and Ushio told him he had one day to bring money. Of course he couldn't get it. And then… and then…

And then a blank. Yugi didn't remember what happened. And Ushio never showed up at school. Only strange rumors about the senior going insane. And now that he thought of it, grandfather had been very worried back then: about him finally finishing the Puzzle that he tried to put together for eight years straight. He remembered lying in pain, as Jounoochi and Honda were beaten up by Ushio, desperately wishing that he had true friends. He had opened his eyes and saw Jounoochi and Honda knocked for his sake. And then nothing.

The rumors back then had spoken that Ushio ad been hospitalized.

"What's this?" muttered Ryou suddenly pulling out the Sennen Ring, "The Ring, it's pointing towards the castle." Yugi blinked momentarily shaken out of his stupor.

"Has this happened before?" asked the shorter boy frowning, as he examined the item Ryou had pulled out. One of the pendants was glowing and pointing towards Pegasus's castle.

"Well, once, when I came to your school. That time the Ring pointed at your Puzzle," said Ryou. The short duelist frowned. He remembered that day and strangely there was another blackout on it.

"Do you think it is pointing towards Pegasus's Sennen Item?" supposed Yugi momentarily trying to shake away the uneasiness that took over, as he desperately tried not to look at Yami.

"He has one too?" cried out Ryou.

"Yes, the Eye, he used it to seal grandfather's soul into a card," murmured Yugi glancing down. While having so much fun here he almost forgot why they came here. They came here to save his grandfather. And he hoped the spirit would help him too. But could he really trust him?

"How cruel!" exclaimed Ryou and then frowned, "But the Spirit of the Ring, he sealed us also into cards. Yet we returned."

Yugi glanced at the spirit, who looked almost the same as he did: "I do not know how the rules work, I think, the spirit knows the rules and what goes on in these _Shadow _Games much better." His grandfather had been warning him about the Games of Darkness and in the end his grandfather had suffered because of them.

"I wonder why only we can see him," Ryou said as he turned towards the mysterious spirit.

"I have no idea."

A faint chopping sound alerted them - the wind picked up and the sound got louder: from beneath the cliff they were at a helicopter rose, its lights blinding them.

"Eh, what's this light," he heard Anzu shout as she poked her head out of the tent. The Sennen Puzzle glowed warm upon his chest, alerting him to the return of the spirit to his side.

"A helicopter!" exclaimed Jounoochi, barely heard over the noise as the helicopter began its descend in front of them.

"What's happening?" shouted Honda. Yugi shrugged as he glanced around, everyone woke up, except Usagi who was still curled up on her blankets, oblivious to the deafening noise.

"How is she still sleeping!" exclaimed Honda.

"Usagi-chan is a heavy sleeper, eh?" chuckled Yugi, the helicopter landed and the engine was turned down and from it jumped out a familiar looking brunette with piercing blue eyes. "Kaiba-kun!" exclaimed the group.

"It's been awhile, Yugi," nodded Kaiba only to him.

Yugi walked up to him, getting the pack of cards he had saved for him from the duel against fake-Kaiba, "Your deck, here it is. I saved it for you."

The indifferent gaze softened for a second, but only for a second, and then the boy haughtily replied, "At any rate I guess I can say, thank you."

"Have you found your heart?" asked Yugi as Seto glanced over their small company.

"I will not find my heart until Mokuba and Kaiba Corporation is safe –" replied Kaiba, his gaze lowering down, to look straight at Usagi sleeping no more than a dozen feet away from him, his words died out in the middle of his phrase, as he stammered, "- this girl."

"Ah, she's friend," replied the short duelist uneasily, there was something undoubtedly dangerous about the way Seto was looking at her.

"A friend, do you know who she is?" the brunette took a step towards Usagi, everyone glanced curiously at Usagi and back to Seto, who suddenly smirked, "No matter. I shall take her with me. She will be my trump card against Pegasus!"

It was then when Yugi felt another consciousness push at him, as he suddenly was an observer. The other one took control of the situation.

"I shall not allow you that!" replied Yami angrily blocking the CEOs path, as he started advancing towards the unconscious girl. His actions earned a loud laugh from the brunet.

"So you really have no idea!" chuckled Seto, "This girl is the only daughter of Pegasus. Usagi S. Crawford," he exclaimed waving with his hand in Usagi's direction.

And everyone froze.

"What?" whispered Yami looking back at the girl in question. She just couldn't be Pegasus's daughter. He had been associating with the enemy all along.

"That would explain why the guars always feared her!" exclaimed Anzu.

"So she was a spy all along!" shouted Honda angrily.

_'Usagi S. Crawford? Why didn't you tell us?' _Yami thought angrily narrowing his eyes. She looked nothing like Pegasus. She was a bit crazy and goofy, but she wasn't tainted by that darkness. Her intentions were always good and she was just a bystander in these events. But all that mysterious power around her, her guardian that stayed in the darkness, _Sailor Moon _business – perhaps she _really _wasa spy.

"I don't think so!" suddenly cried out Anzu, "Usagi-chan is kind! I think she didn't tell us because she wanted to have fun!" she vehemently declared. "But she is _his _daughter!" snapped Honda, glaring at Usagi. A furious growl resonated from Kaiba turning their attention back to the president of Kaiba Corp.

"I have no need for your arguments. Hand the girl over! He kidnapped my brother and I'm going to kidnap his daughter!" barked the brunet.

_'Anzu is right, she is nothing like her father.' _Angry red eyes met the icy gaze of the CEO of Kaiba Corporation. The ancient pharaoh would not back down from his promise to protect Usagi. He vowed to protect her and keep her away from harm and her father. This was why Hotaru made him promise that: because Usagi had nothing common with Pegasus.

"So you will just sink to his level using a girl who has no idea of the actions of her father?" taunted the spirit, a spiteful smirk glued to his face.

"Yugi! She is probably just a spy!" exclaimed Honda. The pharaoh frowned. Their group seemed to be divided. Anzu was supporting Usagi, Honda was clearly against her, Ryou was being indecisive and Jounoochi just stood there frowning as he stared at the blonde girl. Discord in their group would make the weaker, and _she_ was the Apple of Eris for them.

"I don't think so! She is nothing like Pegasus."

Everyone glanced at Jounoochi. He stood beside Usagi in a battle-stance, angry gaze set on Kaiba. Honda stumbled to say something, but an angry gaze from Jounoochi stopped his efforts. The spirit turned back towards his rival.

"I think Jounoochi is right!" he spoke evenly, "That time Sarutawari took her away when I dueled fake-Kaiba and your brother!" the CEO glared harder at him, but Yami wouldn't back down, "I am sure that this was because Pegasus didn't want to involve her. Besides I made a promise! No one will hurt Usagi-chan!"

"He involved my brother!" growled Kaiba, trying to move past him unsuccessfully.

"And you will just go back to the point where you started? I thought that you had more honor, Kaiba!" bit back Yami, and the next moment he was sprawled across the ground, having not expected a direct attack from his opponent. The Eye of Horus lit up on his forehead, as anger surged through his veins. That man dared! He dared to attack a Living God! Fury glowing in his eyes Yami rose from the ground.

"Keep away from Usagi-chan!" an angry shout sounded. It was Jounoochi and the next moment Kaiba flew past him. The fury momentarily flushed from him, wide-eyed he stared at Jounoochi, who stood menacingly over Kaiba, there was something about him: that hum of power, similar to Usagi's and Hotaru's powers.

"Know you place, you lousy dog," shouted Kaiba as he jumped up leaping towards Jounoochi, landing a punch at the sandy-haired youth's face, the pair exchanged punches and for once Jounoochi didn't seem to be loosing too much to the brunet. Their friends were cheering him on, but only Yami knew what the difference was from before. Kaiba always had this energy, magic flowing around him: from their first meeting Yami knew that Seto was special, because Seto survived and recovered from his Mind Crush. Twice now he recovered from Mind Crush, and even once escaped from his punishment now that he thought about it.

After the first Shadow Game with him, where the spirit demonstrated how the monster came to life by the will of the Shadow on their battle field Kaiba had come up with the holographic technology, which had been by now implemented in Duelist Kingdom and in Kaibalands all over the world. Back then Kaiba had tried to switch his grandfather's Blue Eyes with a fake one. But Kaiba couldn't use Blue Eyes in that duel, yet even then he managed to end the duel in a draw. The second time he got what he deserved after that Death-T game. Though he still yearned for the card that Yugi's grandfather owned, earning himself another Shadow Penalty.

In fact both Kaiba brothers possessed the power. Mokuba received the Penalty also twice. This was why Jou always lost to him. He lacked that heritage which both Kaiba had. But strangely, at this moment Yami could almost see faint lightning sparks run across his friend's skin and his green eyes seemed to have become an electric green shade.

_"Nice to meet you, Pharaoh. I am General Jou, the head of military state. How are you enjoying your visit on the Moon," a hand was extended to him and he took it. The contrast between his tanned skin and the white skin of this man was striking, "I'm sure we'll become great friends. May our friendship outlast our death." He raised his glance and sure enough Jou was smiling brightly, his electric green eyes lit up in joy._

Yami blinked suddenly as the sudden memory flushed his mind. The events around were suddenly out of focus as breathing the air became hard suddenly.

_'Outlast our death?' _struggling the pharaoh raised his eyes to the fight. Were his memories returning? But… this vision had Jounoochi in it. Could the sandy-haired youth be connected to his past? But… that thing the Jounoochi of his vision told him: visit on the _Moon – _how in the seven realms was _that _possible?

The fight continued for at least ten minutes (Yami really had no idea, he had been frozen at the same spot, thinking about the strange vision and trying to regain his footing for quite a while), until both backed off heavily breathing, glaring at life out of each other. Kaiba huffed haughtily, wiping a trickle of blood away from his face glancing once more towards the reason for their fight, and declared: "I have no more desire to take her with me. She will be just a hindrance," everyone sighed in relief, "But I challenge you to a duel. Since you have obviously forgotten your place in this world, I shall be so kind as to remind you!"

And of course Jounoochi accepted despite the protests. It was really very painful. Jounoochi just slammed out to the field whatever monster he had, having them all wiped out by Kaiba's Battle Ox effortlessly destroying everything the opponent had to offer. Even when Jounoochi finally got the Red Eyes Black Dragon out on the field and destroyed Battle Ox, the tides would not turn. Yami almost smacked his face into the ground, sort of embarrassed how Jou immediately started cheering. Did the blond boy really forget about Kaiba's trump card?

"You win one battle and think you won the match?" sneered Kaiba, yes, there it went, Kaiba would probably smack out his Blue Eyes White Dragon now, "That is why you are just a bug. I have drawn one card, which your friend has returned to me! Come forth Blue Eyes White Dragon," Yami could hear Jounoochi curse as in a bright flash of light the Blue Eyes came forth. Really… Jounoochi should have tried to think: defeating Kaiba without the use of trap cards? How idiotic! Kaiba didn't even bother to use trap or magic cards. Yes, Jounoochi was still too young to compete with them. "Burst Stream of Destruction!" And here went Kaiba off hollering. A sweatdrop made its way down the Yami's head. The strange energy Jounoochi exhibited a few minutes ago was all gone and Jounoochi was back to his regular goody silly self. Was Jounoochi _really _connected to his past?

"Damn it!" cursed the beaten youth as his friends hurried towards him.

"Did you even feel the terror of dueling me?" asked Kaiba with a bored face, "Jounoochi, seeing you groveling on the floor suits you. Stay on the ground, you lousy dog!" Well, maybe Kaiba went a bit overboard with his insults, just as Yami wanted to bit back a spiteful remark about Kaiba being a looser himself, Anzu righteously interrupted him.

"He is dueling for his sisters eyes!" cried out angrily the blue-eyed girl.

"Shut up! Don't tell him anything," growled Jounoochi, still kneeling on the ground.

"Whatever you reason for dueling is, don't want to know it. I'm not giving you the benefit of doubt again," muttered Kaiba, raising his gaze to the grey castle ominously looming in distance: "That is his castle. The castle of the god of card games," softly spoke Seto, "I shall defeat him. The place where I will awaken and gain what I wish," the icy gaze shifted back to the semi-bored, semi-embarrassed pharaoh, "Yugi, you cannot defeat Pegasus with your skill. I've seen him duel once before." Yami scoffed at this remark, but didn't interrupt his rival.

"No. It couldn't be called a duel. The American Champion, Keith Howard, called Bandit Keith was his opponent. Pegasus just selected a boy from the stands, gave him a piece of paper. And by his instructions before Keith even placed one card on the field, the brat defeated the American Champion. And like that the duel ended."

Yami smirked arrogantly, so Seto thought he didn't know about this? But Seto thought it was trick, and he knew better, "I've had an experience with this power too, Kaiba. But you are wrong!" Seto frowned at him and with pride in his voice Yami spoke on, "You shall not be the one to defeat Pegasus. I will be the victor. For I am the King of Games. Because we are fighting for something precious that was taken away." For a second the two youths stood cautiously examining each other, as if weighting the strength of the opponent and finally Kaiba smirked in reply.

"Right back at you. Whoever gets to him first," his gaze shifted to Usagi, "And watch out for _that girl. _She is no pushover. If she is on _his _side, then you are responsible."

"I know. But she is not tainted by his ways. Just as Mokuba isn't tainted by whatever underhanded tactics you may use," snapped Yami, tensing in anticipation, ready to strike out, should Kaiba try to get his hands on his precious friend once more.

"Careful Yugi, or I might just kidnap her and hold her hostage against Pegasus," sneered his rival.

"Don't you dare!" growled Yami and then Kaiba cracked a grin.

"Joking." And with a flaunty wave of his hand the CEO of Kaiba Corp. disappeared into the woods. In silence everyone was looking at the Usagi S. Crawford.

"So, she is Pegasus's daughter," weakly laughed Anzu.

"Do we tell her that we know?" asked Ryou.

"I say we should confront her!" That was Honda. The boy darkly glared at the blonde girl, clearly not too happy with the group's decision to protect her from Kaiba.

"No, we don't!" ordered Yami suddenly, making everyone jump at the chilliness in his voice, "Hotaru specifically stated she was investigating the dark powers Pegasus used to steal grandfather's soul and that we had to keep away Usagi from Pegasus."

"Hotaru? What does she has to do with it?" exclaimed Jounoochi shocked at the sudden statement.

"Let's just say she's an ally," spoke Yami a finite tone in his words. Anzu, Jounoochi and Honda shared an uneasy glance and finally Anzu stepped forward.

"Are you sure we can trust them?" the girl implored.

"Pretty sure," confirmed the spirit.

"Well then, I'll try to believe you," spoke Jounoochi, "Because it is you, Yugi."

Yami grinned half-heatedly at Jounoochi. If only he knew. If only he knew. He wasn't their Yugi.

_'The daughter of Pegasus J. Crawford – Usagi S. Crawford. I wonder what the S stands for,' _a voice echoed in his head. It was Yugi. So his host had finally figured out how to talk to him through their mind link.

_'Perhaps Serenity, I think it would suit her,' _replied Yami giving control back to Yugi. Everyone went to rest for the night, only the spirit of the pharaoh, keeping his guard over their elusive guest.

* * *

Usagi was the first to wake up that morning. She barely remembered falling asleep the previous night, which felt really strange for her. The last thing she remembered being offered by that Ryou Bakura guy to put her cards into Yugi's deck and see how their chosen cards could battle his deck and then nothing. And then… those dreams. Something bothered her. She remembered seeing many dreams that night, something really disturbing but she couldn't remind herself even of one little detail which had her so unnerved.

_'Like back into the past, with my childhood… when those dreams were… about the magical sailor-suited girls… I feel as if I am missing something,' _Usagi glanced at the group, giggling quietly at the sight they made. Jounoochi was curled up on the ground whimpering slightly, as Honda was sprawled across him snoring loudly and murmuring about some girl named Miho. Ryou and Yugi were curled up next to each other, both slightly drooling.

_'They'll wake up hungry probably… Yosh! I'll make them something to eat!' _With these thoughts Usagi dug out the remaining ratios she packed from this contest, briefly reminding herself to gather the remaining star chips today, so that she could finally rest in the castle, and perhaps shower before the finals.

A soft scent of the quick-noodles rose from the pot, as she boiled them.

_'I have to look good.'_

Frowning Usagi ceased the stirring. For whom did she have to look good? Why did that thought cross her mind? Suddenly Usagi blushed furiously as a pair of slanted looking eyes gleaming ruby red came to her mind.

_'I don't have to look good for him,' _heatedly thought our favorite rabbit, _'I only have to get to the truth. And not have a repeat of what happened yesterday!' _Another blush heated up her face as she remembered the anticipation and the silly thoughts she had when he had her backed up into the tree. There was movement behind her and Usagi turned around just to see Jounoochi stretch.

"Something smells good!" the blonde grinned at the ever-hungry duelist, as she desperately reminded herself to stay calm and act according to her station and title. _Yami _had nothing on her. _He _was just a rival.

"Indeed," exclaimed Honda dashing towards her and suddenly freezing with a strange look upon his face. Usagi blinked. This was new. Honda liked food more than Jounoochi did.

"Good morning! Anyone want some breakfast?" chirped Usagi happily as she stepped aside revealing five plates and instant chicken noodles and just like that that strange expression from gone from Honda's face.

"Do I!" The two boys raced towards the food, almost knocking her off her feet. The commotion woke up the remaining sleepers as well. The white-haired boy, Ryou was the first to get to his feet: still rubbing his sleepy eyes the boy murmured:

"Usagi-san, you didn't have to wake up so early to make us breakfast," he flushed as the girl sat him down and motioned towards the food.

"It's Usagi-chan, Ryou-kun!" chided Usagi exasperated at his overly polite behavior, "I just fell asleep so early yesterday and I feel as if I slept through a war," she muttered, the group exchanged uneasy glances, and Usagi almost suspected something, but then she realized that Hotaru was missing, "I can't believe Hotaru-chan left me here alone. I should go and find her." Usagi jumped up slightly annoyed at her companion.

"Ah, maybe you can just travel with us," suddenly spoke up Anzu, laughing nervously, "Hotaru said she'll find us as soon as she is finished with her business." Usagi frowned. _Business? _Ah, right, Player Killing.

"Ah, _business, _I see," she grudgingly murmured, never noticing the relieved sighs from Anzu, Yugi and Ryou.

Having finished their breakfast, Yugi jumped up merrily, "So shall we go find some duelists?"

"I wonder how many there are left," wondered Anzu.

"I'm sure some already have lost and some may have been eliminated," offered Usagi, briefly forgetting about the fact that they didn't know about Player Killers.

"Eliminated?" Usagi sweatdropped as she glanced back at Jounoochi. Well, now she blew her cover. Almost.

"Ah, you guys don't know?" she giggled, "There are Player Killers on this island. Top duelists hired by Pegasus to battle against players. They don't participate in the finals, they just take away the starchips. And they always wager all of your starchips."

Strangely none of them inquired how she got that info. Well, maybe they just thought she already battled against one. Suddenly Jounoochi leapt up and exclaimed:

"Ah, guys, I'm going to go take a leak." And he was gone. Everyone blinked in surprise, while Usagi made a face:

"I didn't need to know that," whined the bun-haired girl.

"Say, Usagi, your hair looks like meatballs!" suddenly blurted out Ryou.

"Hey!"

* * *

Everything seemed to be pretty fine. So far none of them had slipped that they knew of Usagi's true identity and the cheerful rabbit didn't seem to remember last nights events just like Sailor Saturn said she wouldn't.

"Don't you think Jounoochi has been absent far too long?" murmured Anzu, kicking another pebble. Usagi glanced at her clock quickly informing that Jounoochi had been gone for almost forty-five minutes.

"That's just like him," exclaimed Honda, "to go duel someone so that he can gain more starchips!"

"Honda-kun, perhaps Jounoochi is in some trouble?" said Usagi, "There are people here who are not that kind as you guys," she glanced around nervously.

"You would know…" grumbled the brunet. Yugi glared immediately at the boy. Didn't they agree upon non-disclosure? Was he stupid or what? Usagi stared at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Honda-kun!" hissed Anzu, as she kicked him, sheepishly laughing. The blonde regarded them with a wary glance.

"Let's just split up and search for him," announced Honda, "I'll go with Bakura. You can go with Yugi and Anzu," he spoke to Usagi.

"Alright! Let's go!" cheered Anzu. They separated quickly, leaving Usagi no time to wonder over the strange behavior of Honda, though she seemed to quiet down.

For another half an hour they searched for Jounoochi, finding no trace of him, when they finally met up, both parties had come out without any clues.

"Any luck?" Anzu glanced at Honda and Ryou.

"No, we didn't find him," Ryou spoke heavily huffing.

"I'm worried," murmured Yugi looking down, suddenly a white piece of paper on the ground caught his attention: "What's this?"

Anzu picked up the paper, which apparently was a photo, "This is a photo of his sister, Shizuka!" she exclaimed.

"He wouldn't leave something like that lying around!" cried out Honda. A sudden shout alerted them from their grim thoughts:

"Have you guys checked here?" Usagi was standing a bit away, waving at them from the entrance of a cave. How could they have _not _noticed that, Yugi had no idea.

* * *

They had arrived in the darkness of the night falling to this island like stars searching for their princess. For the whole night had Mercury, their quiet blue-haired genius, attempted to pinpoint the exact location of Usagi S. Crawford, their leader: Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity. But during the night the readings were going haywire. They had split up and tried to find her but with no success. The readings were still gong haywire and now they had to resort to Luna. Sailor Venus glanced at the purple-haired woman who was sitting on the ground, her legs crossed, eyes closed as the crescent glowed upon her forehead. In this world neither Luna nor Artemis held their cat forms.

According to the two Mau-jin(1) in their previous lives on Earth, that ended with _that _battle, where they all died, the two cats had barely enough energy to spend more than two days in these forms. In this reincarnation the Moon provided a much more constant flow of energy, which generally gave them enough power to keep this forms all the time.

They had been reborn in this new world without any memories, born once more to different parents. Did that mean Usagi-chan lost to Galaxia? What happened back then? They had no idea for back then everyone died and Usagi set out with the Starlights and their Princess towards Zero Sagittarius. Star. That much they found out from Luna and Artemis, who had stayed on Earth with Usagi's mother. And then Luna's and Artemis's memories ended. They reawakened in this world once more on the Moon, where Queen Selenity instructed them to find the Sailor Senshi for the safety of their princess. And here they were.

No idea whether Galaxia was defeated or not, since Usagi-chan was the only one who could tell them that. And even when Artemis travelled to the distant Kinmoku, the Starlights couldn't be contacted, and according to the neighboring kingdoms Tankei Kingdom of Kinmoku has stopped existing at least ten thousand years before due to a natural disaster that occurred on the planet. The people of Kinmoku moved to different star systems and the Tankei Kingdom ceased existing.

Had really so much time passed between their deaths and rebirths? When exactly were they? So much was unclear. And those rising shadows all over the world... some how it all was connected to this Duel Monster game. And Usagi-chan ws right in the middle of tournament where some strange dark powers were hindering them in their search for her. Suddenly Luna stood up, coughing slightly to turn their attention towards them.

"Luna, did you find Usagi-chan?" asked Sailor Venus jumping up from her resting place.

Luna nodded as she smiled, "Yes, that way!"

"Yosh! Sailor Team, up, up and away!" exclaimed the blonde Sailor Senshi pumping her fist into the air, as her teammates sheepishly laughed at her antics.

"Venus!" scolded Luna light-heartedly. Well, she could understand Luna, it was no really a time for games, but so far they had no problems. In fact no enemies shoed their rear.

"Just wanted to lighten the situation," chirped Venus, and then her expression changed to a serious one, "But guys. I am worried for Saturn." Her gaze wandered to the stone-brick castle on top of a mountain. According to Artemis this was the place where the finals would be held and where Usagi's father stayed at. And if her feelings were right Sailor Saturn was there and she certainly was in distress.

"You mean Hotaru?" asked Sailor Mercury, barely touching her left earring, the light blue visor instantly flickering to life before her eyes, as her fingers began nimbly dancing upon the Mercury Minicomputer.

"No, I feel her, Sailor Saturn. She is in trouble!" whispered Sailor Venus as once more her instincts alerted her to a small yet distinct fluctuation in the energy flow around the castle.

"As a Sailor Senshi?" Sailor Jupiter stretched her hands, as she glanced excitedly at the castle. Without a doubt the brunette was itching for a battle.

"Yes," Venus nodded, "And this is what has been bothering me all the while. Do you remember that event which we forgot?" Jupiter and Luna glanced at her, "That youma which appeared in our room, Dark Necrofear. I've asked Mercury to run a search on the term."

"And?" said Luna.

"Dark Necrofear is a Duel Monster," voiced Mercury her findings.

"Isn't that the game Usagi-chan's father invented?" exclaimed Luna.

"Exactly! Whatever is happening, it is connected to this game," the Senshi of Love confirmed, "I've had this uneasy feeling. I think we should split up."

"There is only three of us and Luna," murmured Jupiter.

"Jupiter! Must I remind you that I am not weak - I am also the princess's guardian," snapped Luna glaring darkly at the green-eyed girl, flexing her hand, which had long claw-like fingernails.

"Sorry, Luna-san," sheepishly laughed the tallest girl, slightly stepping away from the red-eyed woman who scoffed angrily at her. Sailor Venus sighed. This really wasn't the time for that. They had to find Usagi, reawaken her memories and find out what happened the last time around.

"There is something sinister in the castle and have a hunch that Saturn is there and she is trouble," reminded them Sailor Venus, "I shall take Mercury and investigate this. You guys go find Usagi-chan," she glanced at the Mau-jin, "Luna, she will need you. You can give her back her memories. And I trust Jupiter with Usagi-chan's wellbeing."

"Are you sure?" drawled Jupiter uncertainly.

"Don't you trust me?" smirked Venus with determination.

"It's just so weird, Venus. Every since we reawakened here you've been much more of a leader than you were before," murmured the Senshi of Lightning.

The blonde Senshi blinked, and then nodded in agreement, "I know," she pause trying to find the right words, "It's just as if… as if this is the way it's supposed to be. Let us not forget. We are all a team. And Saturn is just as important as Sailor Moon is."

For a second the group of four lingered in the clearing until finally Luna smiled approving of Sailor Venus's plan.

"Alright. Then it's settled. If anything, we have the communicators," she spoke.

"Up, up and away!" cheered Jupiter as everyone facevaulted.

"Not you too, Jupiter!" cried out Mercury.

* * *

The cave they entered wasn't funny at all in Usagi's opinion. It had skeletons, skulls, creepy sounds and it was dark here. Honestly, did her father not have anything better to do? As soon as they started walking this dark corridors skeletons attacked(!) them and now one was chasing them on top of the white-haired boy. For five minutes the group was running in circles around the pathways until Honda finally knocked the skeletons off from Ryou's shoulders, revealing to them that of course the skeletons just got stuck on Ryou and was not following them at all.

"This is not funny at all! Ryou-kun! Don't scare us like that!" whined Usagi from the ground.

"But, it is not my fault, Usagi-chan!" offered Ryou apologetically, offering the rabbit a hand.

"I wonder which way…" murmured Yugi looking left and right. The pathway was splitting here.

"Yugi-kun, choose!" exclaimed Anzu suddenly.

"But why do I have to choose," whined Yugi, a bit disgruntled by the idea that if they would get lost, it would be all his, pointed glances were awarded to him from all four and Yugi frowned, "Oh, alright! That way!" randomly pointed the boy.

As they entered his chosen pathway, not much time passed until the ground beneath them started to shake. And then a strange sound came.

"Do you hear this rumbling?" asked Anzu looking up.

"What can it be?" asked Honda looking forward, squinting his eyes trying to see in the darkness.

"The hell!" suddenly exclaimed Usagi as she looked back her eyes widening at what she saw. "Usagi-chan, don't curse!" chided Ryou as he turned around, only to see a giant boulder rolling at them.

"A boulder!" shouted the duo running quickly past Anzu, Honda and Yugi.

"Run!" shouted Yugi frantically following the pale-haired boy and girl.

"What the hell is wrong with this place!" cried out Anzu.

"Pegasus is crazy!" exclaimed Honda, earning a nasty glare from Usagi. And that was a mistake, because as soon as she let her eyes stray from the ground, she failed to notice a crack and as she tripped and fell down.

"Oh, no, Usagi-san!" cried Ryou as he turned around only to see Usagi struggling to get up, and the giant boulder gong closer and closer. Familiar strands of black, red and golden hair flew past him, and Ryou's eyes widened:

"Yugi!" he cried out, echoing the shouts of Yugi's other two friends.

Usagi looked up into red eyes, as the rumbling of the boulder got unbearably loud, "Yami!" she cried out, and clenched her eyes as the red-eyed man pulled her closer covering her with his body. She could hear the shouts of his friends, but it was all lost. They would be crushed by this giant rock that her father placed here.

As they braced themselves for the pain and tensed: it never came. And in a second there was a loud pop. The two blinked owlishly as bits and pieces of rubber flew apart.

"This is … a fake!" deadpanned Yami.

"Argh! I hate that guy!" screamed Anzu as she stomped over the remains of the giant boulder-balloon. "We were so scared for you! We thought you were goners!"

"So creepy!" shivered Honda.

Yami glanced down at Usagi, who was still slightly shaking in his hands, "Are you alright?" he asked. She lifted her head shyly, a faint blush covering her cheeks, as she uncomfortably wiggled out of his hands, dusting off her pale dress:

"Ah, yes, I am," stuttered Usagi. A soft smile graced Yami's face, as he helped her get some dirt off her dress. Their hands met and as Usagi froze voer the sudden contact he gently grasped her hand.

"Thank Ra," he murmured gently, as Usagi flushed even more. He let go of her hand and she immediately pulled it away.

"R-R-Ra?" she inquired still stuttering.

"Em, the sun god in Egypt," he replied.

"Golden sands…" whispered suddenly the blonde girl freezing over. Yami glanced at her strangely.

"Something wrong?"

Immediately she snapped out of her trance-like state, "No, it's okay," she muttered, suddenly her head snapped up, and she froze over, "do you hear that!" she spoke. In the distance there were voices speaking.

"It sounds like Jounoochi!" exclaimed Honda and they ran towards the voices. Before their eyes an underground Duel Arena was revealed. The ground around it was littered with bones and skulls, and a dark mist spread over the ground of the cave. Jounoochi was standing at the arena, his opponent a pale zombie-like boy.

"Jounoochi-kun! What are you doing in a place like this!" Their sandy-haired friend turned around, remarkably relieved as it seemed, instantly eyes lighting up.

"Ah, I was dragged by these bastards here!" he scoffed gesticulating at the zombie-like kid and three more.

"What, how dare you!" growled Honda blindly charging at one of the men sitting beside Jounoochi's opponent's side. Suddenly Honda keeled over and then a black-haired man with spiky hair charged towards him, kneeling him in the stomach,

"Honda-kun! Are you alright?" shouted Usagi running after Honda, just as a red-haired boy with round glasses stepped in front of her with a lecherous grin.

"Why hello there pretty lady," he drawled running his gaze all over her form. Somewhere behind Yami growled angrily, as he stalked towards the redhead.

"Oh! Back off. Do you even recognize her!" suddenly a shout came from the last man. He had blond hair, wore sunglasses combined with a bandana stylized after the American flag. The redhead froze over, as Usagi sneered suddenly. She knew that man. How could she not? It was that angsty ex-USA champion of Duel Monsters.

"Bandit Keith! Are you that petty that you need to kidnap people to duel you?" she snapped earning a chuckle from the older man.

"Isn't that the guy whom Pegasus defeated," muttered Anzu. Keith jumped down from the boulder he was occupying walking slowly towards Usagi.

"Usagi S. Crawford," he came to a halt in front of Usagi, making the rabbit curse quietly, as she glanced quickly back at the group that had been accompanying her for the last two days.

"Ah, and here I thought to just make friends without my name interfering," she bit out, glancing back she smiled sadly, "Sorry guys, for not telling you."

"It's okay," exclaimed Anzu, "everything alright," the pretty brunette sheepishly laughed.

"You don't seem to be surprised," deadpanned Usagi shifting her gaze from Jounoochi to Honda, from Honda to Yami, from Yami to Anzu.

"Erm, long story, really, Usagi-chan," giggle Anzu uncomfortably.

"So, do you think we could score some cash from Pegasus for her?" offered the black-haired man, conspirator of Keith, the one who had knocked Honda down just before.

"I said hands off, you morons!" growled Keith angrily, punching his companion in the face.

"But, aniki!" whined the black-haired man.

"I shall duel her myself. After Ghost Kotsuzuka defeats this looser here!"

All the while the group of five now, happily reunited, was watching the family quarrel unreadable expression on their fac. Well, Usagi was just trying to keep her straight face on, even after Keith just challenged her. Yami was barely restraining his anger at Keith not only blackmailing Jounoochi but also harassing Usagi. Honda had been beaten by Keith's henchmen, and needless to say he just wanted to get back at them, preferably side by side with Jounoochi. Ryou and Anzu were busy muttering about the crazy bastards on this island.

"I'll humor you," Usagi said haughtily, a smirk stuck to her face, "For you have no chance against me. Jounoochi-kun, show him what you are made of so I can put this moron to his place!" she exclaimed angrily, fire burning in her eyes. This man dared to challenge her even knowing her name! How stupid was he! She had seen his dueling skills! They were nothing. She was Usagi the Blitz Player, Usagi of the Faint Smile, she was not some third-class duelist!

"Usagi-chan… but…" at Jounoochi's stuttering, Usagi faintly growled twirling around to glare at him.

"Show us your fighting spirit! For your sister!" she exclaimed hands on her hips. For a second the sandy-haired boy froze and then a smile crossed his face. Determination burning in his eyes he turned back to the creepy kid, who commanded a zombie army, and resumed his duel.

_'That's right, Jou-kun! Never give up.' _Usagi smiled to herself satisfied that finally Jounoochi was back to being his cheerful energetic self.

* * *

"Are you sure, Luna?" asked Jupiter, crossing her arms. The cave seemed to be something out of a Horror Room of an amusement park. Usagi didn't like creepy places. Not in previous life, nor in this one.

"I am one-hundred percent sure!" confirmed Luna, closing her eyes for a second, as she tried to search out for Usagi's energy signature. The purple-haired woman walked further into the darkness, her bright yellow dress the only splash of color in this solemn place.

"Weird. Usagi-chan wouldn't go there on her own," murmured Jupiter scratching the back of her head, following Luna into the pathways, further and further away from the light. Neither of them noticed a blonde violet-eyed woman observing them from a distance.

"The Sailor Senshi? So they're here for Princess Serenity. I wonder…" murmured Mai, as she emerged from the bushes she hid in as soon as she noticed Luna and Sailor Jupiter. Tilting her head to the side, eyes narrow Mai observed the castle to which she was heading.

* * *

How long had he been stuck here? This pitch-black darkness made him loose sense of time and coordination. He no longer knew if hours or days have passed. Where the walls were, or the bars began. He had been alone, alone, alone. Until she came. She was dragged in by Pegasus's guards: a frail pixie-like girl, in a white and violet Sailor-fuku, a strange sign blazing on her forehead. And she was thrown into a cell across of him, the guards left, snidely commenting that now he would have some company. And they left them again in pitch-black. Only now from the darkness across of him, a pair of violet eyes glowed in darkness, that strange symbol upon her forehead blazing the same color.

"You are Mokuba," she stated.

"Eh, how do you know my name?" the black-haired boy asked.

"I am Hotaru," spoke the girl as if ignoring his previous question.

"Are you also held hostage?" the boy shifted forwards, trying to see more of the girl.

"Something like that," she replied angrily.

"My big brother will come soon. I just know," whispered Mokuba, as he glanced down. Yes, his brother would come here and save him. And he would save this girl too. He would save them all. Because he was Seto, and he could do everything.

"Do not worry. Help is on its way. I can feel them," spoke the girl who introduced herself as Hotaru.

"Them?" Mokuba squinted hard in the darkness, trying to see the girl. And it seemed as if she put her hand over the gemstone which held her bow, a slight smile playing upon her lips.

"Yes, they are here, the Sailor Senshi," she murmured gently.

* * *

The dark spirit of the Sennen Ring angrily flew through the Shadow Realm, his strides forceful, his gaze hardened. He was beaten once more by than stupid ruler. Well, the Pharaoh's luck wouldn't be eternal!

"Stupid Pharaoh, does he really think I'm gone forever!" snapped Bakura to no one in particular, "I'll find my way back to the Ring, because our destiny is tied." Oh yes, he would find his way back. He always did, no matter how often he was separated form it, his mind was tied to that item.

"Master," he turned around as the soft voice resonated from the shadows. From the purple mist of Shadow Realm emerged his favorite blue-skinned monster, Dark Necrofear. Her eyes were glowing eerily and in her hands she held a black orb.

"Dark Necrofear, have you found what I desired?" he asked.

"Yes, I have found the memory of Mistress 9," replied evenly his subordinate putting hands forward. The black orb levitated out of her hands and a figure of a tall black-haired woman formed. Her hair cascaded to the ground, in what it seemed obscure tentacles, and her black eyes had no irises, no pupils only black color, black as starless space. Upon her forehead was a black star.

She kneeled on the ground, the violet dress pooling around her, as she clutched her own forearms, rocking back and forth, her eyes insanely dancing around. And she was muttering something obscene.

"Stupid Sailor Senshi, that accursed light, I hate it, I hate it, I shall not give in, I shall destroy them once more. Accursed Sailor Senshi," made out Bakura from whatever she was saying.

"The memory and the spirit seem to be … insane," he mentioned casually to his monster. Strange. Mistress 9 was an extraordinary creature, surely five thousand years of sleep wouldn't do such a thing to her.

"I have found this one on the edge of the cemetery, where the ancients resided," replied Dark Necrofear. Bakura glanced at the blue-skinned monster skeptically.

"Ancients? How ancient?"

"About two-hundred thousand years before your time," said Necrofear.

"What? That is not possible!" exclaimed the white-haired fiend, "She was supposed to be reincarnated with Hotaru! How did that happen?" he turned to the demented woman, who was still muttering obscenities about the Sailor Senshi, "Mistress 9, when did you live? What happened there?"

Mistress 9 glanced up at him, smiling crookedly, showing all of her teeth, "I always though why couldn't I contact Master Pharaoh 90," she laughed hollowly, and then continued, "accursed Senshi, how could I know," she murmured raising her hands to clutch her head, "how could I know, that that damned queen had already killed him before I could even meet him! And that I would see to his destruction!" she cried out, not really making any sense at all.

"Explain!" growled Bakura, fixing his gaze upon the incoherent spirit.

"Silly dark god!" she chuckled, "Your bird and the queen had destroyed my master, who could've granted us victory back then hundreds of year thousands before we were even created!" she started laughing again, the insanity of eternity shining in her eyes.

"That doesn't make any sense!" shouted Bakura, as he released a surge of black magic towards the creature, hoping that maybe a little pain would make her speak clearer.

"Ahahahaha!" still laughed the creature, "Accursed queen, destroying my master before I could even meet him! How could she!" whispered Mistress 9 over and over again, "How could she! I hate that shining orb!" she growled, starting to pull at her own hair.

"Take her away! She's useless!" snapped Bakura.

"Yes, Master," replied Necrofear bowing to him, as she summoned the spirit of Mistress 9 back into the black orb and left leaving Bakura alone to contemplate upon the implications of what the spirit of Mistress 9 said.

* * *

**End Chapter 3**

* * *

**Next time:**

Tag-duel (Usagi and Yami) against Meikyuu brothers.

Usagi's reawakening.

The group will finally make it to Pegasus's castle

**Notes:**

_1. Mau-jin - Luna is from Planet Mau, and since Mauian, or something like that doesn't sound, I decided to use DragonballZ style planet-people names, like Namek-jin, Saiya-jin, Tsufuru-jin and so on. Msi-jin means that she is a person from the Mau race of planet Mau._

* * *

_Yattaa! I finally finished this chapter. Now I can work on Originis. :D I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter and now I can continue with bringing in more and more characters. You're probably all wondering where Mamoru is? Or did you forget about the Earth Prince? :D He will be in this story! Mwhahahaha. I wonder who was with Mamoru if Usagi was with Yami in the past. But that's for me to know and for you to find out._

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the Duelist Kingdom.**

**So, motivate the author to continue this fairly difficult project.**

**Review please. **

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	5. 4: Unexpected Guests Bring Back Memories

**_27/04/2011 – _**_yes, I got over this part finally. So, finally, Usagi awakens. The group makes it into the castle. And the truth is revealed to Usagi. This is one freakishly long chapter, and I am very satisfied with how it came out. Well, freakishly long because of the epic tag-team duel Yami and Usagi will have with Meikyu brothers and because of all their flirting. But nonetheless. Freakishly long. My hands are falling off. So… of we go._

* * *

Thank to all those who reviewed, alerted, favourited this story: **Kochou-hime **(I don't mind, sometimes it takes long for me to reply too), **Saris Yui **(Kaiba is a mean kitty, you should know it =D. Usagi is soooo confused), **SailorVmoon1311815 **(I do not update once in a million years, I just write long chapter that make my hands fall off! :D), **Chibs **(Soon, we will find out), **Alycee Lanet **(Mamoru is somewhere, though even I wonder where he is, ahahahaha, perhaps we'll see him after Duelist Kingdom, perhaps later, who knows, who knows, but he'll appear, at the worst possible timing, mwhahahah), **Cosmic-lover **(Gracias, well, I think it's pretty much obvious Usagi isn't evil, just a bit crazy, besides Yami and Usagi are soulmates, how can he betray her even if he doesn't remember her), **Sesshy's Mistress **(I'm not impatient, I'm demanding, I can't write one, and then the other, because it's like a puzzle, the two stories are falling together, hah, you can see Usagi kick Keith's ass in this part!), **wildflower1014 **(Everyone is coming back, don't worry, just for everything the right timing is needed), **Umiki, jennifera11, Dawn17, Destined Deathreaper**

* * *

**_Names (first name is highlighted):_**

**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_

**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

* * *

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

The duel between Ghost Kotsuzuka and Jounoochi went on. Although Jounoochi seemed to be loosing badly when they came, he was slowly regaining his confidence. It was his duellist's pride that got hurt last night and he had to regain it. Yami's gaze moved to Usagi, who was constantly cheering on his sandy-haired classmate. Jumping up and down, yelling encouragingly she was pumping her fists into the air. Glimpsing at Honda, Yami rolled his eyes: Honda was doing the same. At least for this moment, the brown-haired youth seemed to have given up on his distrust of Usagi.

_Usagi S. Crawford, I wonder what secret you are hiding…_

The light around her, which only he could distinguish was getting stronger which each passing moment. As if anticipating something, as if waiting to be set free. Sometimes he could see the flicker of those wings she had as Eternal Sailor Moon on her back. In fact at that time, when they were sure the boulder would crush them, when he shielded her with his body, he could have sworn she became different in his arms. Her pale-blue dress became long flowing white dress as she had pressed herself in panic against him. And then it was gone again - that vision.

A joyous laughter ensued from Jounoochi: he had won. Yami beamed. It seemed that with this victory Jounoochi's determination was back.

"As mentioned before, Jounoochi easily beat your silly student," spoke Usagi haughtily, her hands on her hips.

"You insolent brat," growled Bandit Keith, as he dragged Ghost Kotsuzuka from the duelling platform, obviously displeased with his crony's defeat, "very well, I shall first defeat you," he smirked darkly, "and then your father, to regain my glory and pride!" The blond American started going towards the exit of the underground arena, just as Usagi neared the duelling platform.

"Well, then where are you going?" she retorted.

"I want to switch arenas. Don't like the zombie feel," answered Bandit Keith. A small smirk crossed Usagi's lips as she retrieved a white code card from boot.

"Well, I'd like to switch the battlefield too," she spoke waving the card back and forth, "How about I override the settings to make the arena without a field?"

Yami stared in disbelief. She had the means of overriding the settings of Duellist Kingdom. And in a moment he almost smacked himself on the forehead. _Of course she did. _She was Pegasus's daughter after all.

"Wouldn't that be considered cheating?" he asked.

"It wouldn't," assured Usagi placing the white card on the monster area, causing an immediate reaction on the field, as the graveyard atmosphere vanished replaced with a simple empty field, like usually, a smirk crossed her lips as she stared at Bandit Keith, "I'm sure father would overlook it, especially considering the fact that I would be duelling someone who is not supposed to be in this tournament."

All gazes shifted to Bandit Keith, who chuckled darkly, as he opened the sides of his jacket revealing many decks hidden within it.

"I would guess that much that you would know it. I wonder which deck I should use against you."

"He's got a ton of cards under his jacket!" yelled Jounoochi, as Bandit Keith was picking one. The American looked up at him with a disgusting sneer.

"That's right! Dragon decks. Machine decks. Warrior decks," he spoke pointing to the deck inside his jacket, "And they've all got _dozens_ of rare cards. I've got a deck to beat any poor sucker, and I've got a very special deck to beat Miss Blitz Player over here!" he shouted pointing at Usagi. But as Yami dryly noted, he wasn't the only one unmoved by Keith's violent proclamation. The blonde girl was standing at the duelling platform her arms crossed and tapping her foot in frustration.

"Bandit Keith, isn't there a rule that you can only bring forty cards to the island?" questioned Yami.

"Yeah, you could trade cards on the boat but on the island they checked everyone's decks and confiscated any extra cards!" said Anzu.

"You fucking morons," laughed Keith, "I'm not officially _in _this tournament, and that means the rules don't apply to me!" sneered the Bandit, "I only have _one rule. _I'll do _whatever it takes _to get to Pegasus's castle!"

"The _Duellists' Pride _is the rule on that island!" Yami retorted, his eyes narrowed, as he barely restrained himself from summoning a Penalty Game upon this human, "Remember that!"

"Don't make me laugh, you baby goth! _(1)_" growled Bandit Keith, as Yami glared at him in return for that comment.

"Very well. Enough of this chit-chat. Let's duel," called out Usagi.

* * *

The blonde girl impatiently waited for Bandit Keith to enter the duelling platform, so that she could finally show the arrogant American just why he was beaten by her father. He could be easily seen-through. In fact she was sure, that to protect himself from her field-swarming special-effect deck, he would use a more powerful swarming deck, and try to destroy her cards as well.

The flipped a coin and Bandit Keith won. He would go first. The half-smirk/half-smile which never left Usagi's face broadened. She would get to see his strategy first. Without a doubt he would charge in headfirst. And if he really had a swarming deck… well, he would just have to see, why he was pitiful…

"I start with playing Card Destruction! Now we both shall place our hands into the Graveyard!" announced Bandit Keith. The two duellists discarded their hands, and Usagi weakly noted the grin of her opponent getting wider.

"No matter. You are just playing into my strategy," murmured the blonde girl as she eyed a certain card in her hand.

"Heh. Perfect. First of all, I summon Blackwing – Blizzard of the Far North! It's special effect is activated and from the Graveyard I summon Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame. Using special effect I summon Blackwing – Bora the Spear and two Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind from my hand. I also set two cards face down and now I end my turn," gleefully announced Bandit Keith as on his side on the field one by one crow-like hybrids were starting to appear. Usagi's smile just got larger.

"How horrible!" exclaimed Anzu in distress, "He swarmed his side of the field in one turn. How will Usagi deal with it?" Really, that girl didn't know _what exactly _Bandit Keith was up against.

"Usagi is no pushover," said Yami, "She has some serious moves up her sleeves. I think the faster Keith takes this duel, the faster it will end."

A smile playing upon her face, Usagi pulled out three cards from her hand, and set them on the field, "Very well. I set one monster card face. Two cards facedown and end my turn."

"That's it?" cried out Keith harshly, "That's the most Pegasus's daughter can do?" he taunted, "Attack, Blackwings! Destroy her monster," yelled the bandit. As the first of the Blackwings attacked her facedown monster which was really one of her first LVL Soldiers, sending the Wise Scientist into the graveyard, Usagi happily flipped one of the cards she set down the previous turn.

"You just dug your own Grave," she chirped, "You started it when you played the first Card Destruction. First of all, I activate this facedown card that I placed," her smile got wider as Keith watched her in contempt, "Ultimate Sacrifice by sacrificing all of my life points except one. And I send six more cards from my deck and hand to the graveyard," discarding the necessary cards she shuffled her deck, leaving her with zero hands in the hand, "And I summon another monster, face-down defence position from my deck," her smile was bordering on positively insane with wicked.

* * *

_Usagi: 1LP_

_Keith: 2000LP_

* * *

"How foolish," scoffed Keith as he observed that monster, without a doubt he was trying to calculate which monster of hers it was, because unlike most he had actually seen her duel a couple of times, and without a doubt was thinking that it was the Moon Princess, but how wrong he was, she had another card up her sleeve, which she never used, because it was like 'god mode', but suitable enough to show Bandit Keith his place. Finally the American began to speak, "Just like that previous trash was destroyed, shall I destroy this card. And you will have only 1LP left!"

"Really?" asked Usagi with a smile, hoping that the American had some brains in that thick skull of his. It wouldn't be fun if her fun was finished before she could even start her second turn.

"Blackwings, attack her!" Apparently not.

* * *

The second one of his Blackwings advanced upon her facedown monster it was flipped revealing a woman with pale-white hair, an eight pointed star glowing upon her forehead, kneeling low her hand held out in front of her, clutching a staff which stopped the assault.

"What the hell is that?" exclaimed Keith. According to the stats the monster showed…

"Ah, meet my Ultimate Monster. This is Cosmos," grinned Usagi cheerfully.

"But her attack/defence stats are 0," angrily bellowed Keith. He glanced again at the white duel monster lady, who was still kneeling. He had a pretty bad feeling about this whole shit. And then her eyes opened. Her stats on the monitor started skyrocketing and in horror Keith looked up to his opponent, Usagi S. Crawford who was smiling at him with that ever-annoying grin.

He was screwed. The monitor started beeping as the stats skyrocketed.

* * *

"But this is where the special effect gets turned on," chirped Usagi cutely, "You see, this card can be activated only when all the Soldiers are in the graveyard, after I have summoned her from my deck via the Ultimate Sacrifice," her eyes darkened and even then the smile didn't disappear, only her became more wicked, "Her ATK and DEF is the sum of ATK and DEF of all eight Guardian Soldiers."

"What, that's cheating!" exclaimed Keith. A dark look immediately shut him up. Usagi grinned. That was why she didn't like Cosmos. She was way too powerful. But if Bandit Keith was a cheater, then she could use this little godmode trick her father allowed.

"Well, if you wouldn't have played Card Destruction, I wouldn't have gotten these cards so quickly," she chided. She turned back to the duelling field where the battle damage still hadn't been calculated, as if time had been frozen. Finally the beeping of the stats for Cosmos rising stopped and Bandit Keith started literally tearing at his hair.

"Now, let's see… The ATK stats of Cosmos, should add up to right about 16100. And her defence should be: 14300," spoke Usagi thoughtfully, tapping her chin with the index finger as she impishly glanced back at Keith.

"That's incredible! Before her second term she has such a monster on her field? Yugi, you really have an awesome opponent," exclaimed Jounoochi, absolutely fascinated and dumbfounded by the blitz-game Usagi played.

"Isn't that cheating? I mean only she has these cards," pointed out Anzu with a frown. And she was the daughter of Pegasus, meaning he could create a deck that couldn't loose just for her.

"The combined force of your monster is about 5000, right?" asked Usagi, "Even if you attack with all of them, you still attacked her as she defended. And all that damage is going to right back at you. At around 10000LP. I wouldn't even bother counting, its just way too silly," she laughed waving her hand, not minding the stricken expression on Keith's face. And time on the battle field started moving again, as from the attack that was still held by the staff of Cosmos, another light started forming, blinding them all as it dominated the battle field, leaving in empty besides the white-haired warrior lady.

* * *

_Usagi: 1LP_

_Keith: 0LP_

* * *

"That's impossible," whispered Keith.

"Ara, ara, Keith, I believe I won," chided the blonde duellists, waving her finger at him, "And you dare to challenge my father. Even to this day with this deck I have never beaten him," the American, as well as the Yugi-tachi froze.

"How dare you!" exclaimed Keith, shaking himself from the stupor, "Well no matter! You just got lucky!"

"It seems that dominating you runs in our family," smirked Usagi, as she jumped down from her side of the platform, her blue eyes shining in challenge.

"Bitch!" growled Keith, as he tried to go past her.

"Tread lightly, Keith!" warned the blonde, standing to move in front of the much taller man. Her eyes shot to his duellist glove and back at him.

"You think I'm just going to hand over the Star chips?" asked Keith with a sneer. Anzu gasped in anger at his behaviour, as Yami started moving forward along with Jounoochi, just as Keith's lackeys also stepped forward. Usagi held out a hand in a sign of backing down.

"Do you even want to get _into _the castle?" murmured the blonde, her tone low and menacing, "I can easily make it impossible!" she promised him, not minding the reddening face of her beaten opponent.

"You little bitch!" growled the American, pushing past her, immediately coming upon the glowing red-eyes of Yami. For a second the villainous man faltered in his steps as a deep primal fear overtook him the longer he stared into those kohl-lined red eyes.

"Keith one more word..." hissed Yami.

Keith glared at the shorter youth who was defiantly glaring at him, "Or what, little goth?"

"You'll know!" vowed Yami darkly.

"Oi, bastard!" suddenly interrupted their little stare-down a bright voice, "Hand over Usagi's earned star chips!" Everyone turned back to the entrance of the cave where a tall girl with auburn hair stood her hands crossed and emerald eyes burning in anger. Next to her stood a similarly tall purple-haired woman with red eyes.

"Makoto-chan!" exclaimed Usagi in surprise.

"And what can a little girl like you do to me?" growled Keith advancing towards the one who insulted him. He never noticed the small smirk that crossed the girl's lips, as the next moment to the astonished 'aaahs' and 'ooohs' of the duellists and their friends the much larger man was on the ground, his hand painfully bent behind his back.

"How dare you!" "We'll get you for that, little whore!" shouted the two larger lackeys of Keith as they charged towards the emerald-eyed girl who held down their boss. But before Jounoochi, Yami or Honda could even react, a yellow-purple blur sped past them, straight at the two cronies, and in a high leap the woman spun around, her heels hitting the faces of the two deviants.

"Need another proof?" asked the purple-haired woman standing up from her crouched position in which she had landed after knocking out the red-headed and blue-haired males. Ghost Kotsuzuka whimpered from behind a rock where he hid, the moment she glanced at him.

"Bitch!" growled Keith struggling against his attacker's iron-like grip, "Here, take them! I'm going to get back at you." With a smirk the auburn-haired girl removed four star chips from his glove and let the taller man go. For a second it seemed as if Keith was considering trying something else, but a glance at the barely conscious lackeys and a cowering Kotsuzuka the man cursed, and quickly kicked the lackeys up, ordering them to follow him.

"Running like a dog with its tail between his legs!" smirked the purple-haired woman, stretching in a cat-like way. The Yugi-tachi was standing with dumbfounded faces, as Usagi skipped over to the two Amazon-like women and embraced the taller auburn-haired one.

"Mako-chan! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Eh, we arrived to cheer you on!" laughed Makoto.

"Do you know them?" Yami was the first to get out of the stupor. Even he was shocked. After all it was not everyday he saw two slender girls take out three men, whom Jounoochi and Honda couldn't take on. They were like Amazons who crushed men. Jounoochi and Honda still couldn't gather their jaws from the ground, as they looked suspiciously blue.

"Yes," replied Usagi motioning over at the grinning auburn-haired girl with emerald eyes, "this is a friend from the school Hotaru and I attended. This is Kino Makoto. And this is..." she looked over at the garnet-eyed woman and tilted her head to the side, "I don't know you," she noted idly tapping her finger against the chin. Briefly Yami noted that gesture looked awfully endearing on her. She looked really like a rabbit.

"My name is Luna, Sol Luna," said the purple-haired woman.

"Is she your friend?" asked Usagi from her friend, the one she called Makoto.

"Yes, she is, Usa-chan." Usagi nodded thoughtfully and turned back to them.

"And these are Mutou Yugi," waved towards Yami, in an off-handed way, sort of irking Yami with that gesture, "Mazaki Anzu," motioned towards Anzu, who waved back at the two girls, "Hiroto Honda," the brunette was still out of it in shock, "Jounoochi Katsuya," just like Jounoochi, "Bakura Ryou," the white-haired boy nervously greeted the two girl.

"Nice to meet you, guys," cheerfully replied Makoto, slightly alleviating the atmosphere of fear against the two Amazons.

"How did you arrive on the island anyways?" suddenly piped up Anzu.

"Err, on a helicopter!" exclaimed Luna.

"Yes, a helicopter! Ami's mom is rich!" insisted Makoto in a strangely nervous way. That little act attracted Yami's attention. It was rather strange that they would arrive on a helicopter and get into the caves to search for Usagi. How did they know where to look anyways? Perhaps he had to protect Usagi against them too. He took a step closer to Usagi, noting the way their eyes shifted to him.

"Ami? She's here?" asked Usagi excitedly.

"Yes, she's with Minako. They went off to find Hotaru!" laughed Makoto sheepishly.

"Shouldn't we get out of this cave? It's creeping me out!" suddenly whined Ryou, as everyone's attention went back to him and away from the two female.

"Yes, yes, let's go," conceded Usagi, as she waved the others to follow her along. As they made their way out of the dark tunnels with little light, Usaigi twirled around towards the Yugi-tachi starting to walk backwards, "By the way guys, why weren't you surprised when you heard that I am Pegasus's daughter?" she asked cocking her head to the side.

"Err, well, Mai told us yesterday," quickly said Anzu, "She said that you just wanted to have fun without your surname affecting you." The group nervously laughed, but it seemed Usagi was absolutely oblivious to their little white lie. Unlike her two friends up in front, who immediately looked back distrustful looks tattooed upon their faces.

"Ah, you could have told me," chided Usagi.

"Well, what's known that's known. Let's go!" exclaimed Anzu, energetically dashing up in front, followed by Jounoochi and Honda, also shouting vigorous phrases about youth, light and freedom.

"There's the exit!" shouted Luna, as finally in the distance the daylight was visible. Usagi let out a cheer of joy, as she started running towards the exit along with Ryou.

"Finally! No more scary skeletons!" cried Usagi tears of joy.

"No more boulders threatening to crush you!" exclaimed Ryou, as the two very-very impressive teenagers hugged each other in happiness, sparkles and roses flying around them and all that stuff. Needless to say the rest of the group was watching this with deadpan expression.

"Oh, look, they're trying to lock us in," suddenly noted Luna with a bored face, looking away for a second towards the exit and then back at the sparkly disco-show Ryou and Usagi put forth, spouting nonsense about the light, the happiness and no zombies.

"Oh, yes Keith is a bastard," noted Yami dryly following the purple-haired woman's gaze. They both looked back towards Ryou and Usagi and then the meaning of what they saw dawned on them.

"Oh no! Hurry!" shouted the King of Games dashing at full speed towards the exit, "Those damn losers must be trying to seal us in!" he glowered. Yet the moment they made it to the exit the boulder was pushed to the max against the exit and they were trapped.

"Crap, it won't budge!" shouted Jounoochi, as he along with Honda, Makoto and Yami tried to push the large rock away from the exit. Somewhere in the distance Usagi and Ryou were crying about the fact that they would have live in this creepy place forever now. Although they couldn't keep up their show for a while, as Luna smacked the two promptly upon their heads, asking them to start acting their age. Once the initial commotion had died down, meaning Luna-Usagi shouting match, the group started discussing things like grown-up people.

* * *

"I guess we'll have to find another way out..." murmured Jounoochi.

"What can we do now?" asked Anzu, as suddenly Usagi cheered, smacking her fist against her palm.

"Usagi?"

"We must exit the cave through the maze," she explained as if it was the most obvious thing, at their blank gazes the blonde told them of the other part of the cave leading to a maze which would eventually bring them to the ground and right in front of the castle as well.

"Of course, you would know everything here," deadpanned Honda, as Jounoochi and Anzu once more glared at him.

"Well… not really," laughed Usagi nervously, "Because I don't like dark scary places," she paused, tapping her forehead, and then as if remembering something, she continued speaking, "but I do know that the cave goes over into a labyrinth and at the exit there are two brothers, two Player Killers. We'd have to defeat them."

"So how do we get there?" asked Anzu happily, glad that they would get out of this underground world.

"I don't know," said Usagi making everyone fall over.

"Usagi-san –" suddenly said Ryou, causing Usagi to scoff and correct him once more, "It's Usagi-chan, Ryou-kun."

"Usagi-chan," said Ryou slightly flushed, "is the exit somewhere near to the castle?"

"Yes, it is," nodded the girl confused, "Then I have an idea," explained Ryou, as he pulled out from his backpack the Sennen Ring.

"The Sennen Ring! Of course!" exclaimed Yami.

"What's that?" asked Makoto and Usagi leaning in closer as Ryou held out the Ring out, suddenly one of the pendants on the ring started glowing and raised pointing towards some unknown destination causing the two girls two cry out in distress and back off, "Eh, how did this happen!" whimpered Usagi. When no one answered her, she warily glanced at the Ring and then at Yami, who stepped closer to her, and took her hand.

"Just trust us, Usagi-chan," said the pharaoh softly. The girl glanced between him and the Ring distrustfully, and finally sighed, though still shivering.

"This is seriously creepy," she murmured. Neither of them noticed the threatening stares of Makoto and Luna directed at Yami and Ryou.

"Jupiter, stay on alert," whispered Luna quietly, "I sense some dark magic from these two."

"I felt it too. It's suffocating," hissed Makoto.

"Alright! Let's go," exclaimed Anzu energetically.

"Let's take the right passage for now," noted Ryou as they came to the first crossroad. The dim light of their lantern provided some light, which was better than nothing.

"We've gone pretty far, I haven't seen a way out," noted Honda nervously.

"Yeah, and his tunnel's getting narrower, this was all bumpy and now it's all smoothed out, like a stone wall!" exclaimed Jounoochi, as he dragged his hand against the wall. Usagi looked around suspiciously. They were making many turns and there were quite a few dead ends, which meant…

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "We're in a maze! At least we know it's the right way!" declared the blonde rabbit. The group picked up their pace, as Ryou starting running in the direction where the ring pointed.

"I see the light!" he shouted after making another turn, and his remaining friends rounded the corner, bright light flooded their eyes. It was a room inspired by the Chinese architecture carried out in golden, orange and green colours. At the end of the room there were two large doors with the Mei and Kyu symbols.

"Must be the Player Killer room," remarked Usagi, as suddenly from nowhere two blurred figures started back flipping towards them, and performed complicated aerial tricks no doubt inspired by martial arts.

"What the? What is this place," deadpanned Honda, as he stared at the show with a long face.

"What is this, a Honk Kong Movie?" exasperated Jounoochi.

"How sane is your father?" asked Anzu with a dry look upon her face, turning towards Usagi who sweatdropped.

"Don't know," she shrugged, laughing in a silly way. The two men came to a stop. They were two bald Chinese men with Mei and Kyu Symbols upon their forehead. The orange clad one, had the Mei symbol, and the green clad one had the Kyu symbol.

"It's a pleasure to see you here," spoke the green clad one, "Miss Usagi. Mister Yugi. And the unknown duellist. But we cannot let you pass."

"You'll have to…" began the orange clad one.

"… duel us!" continued the green one, making poses.

"We are the guards of the dungeon..." shouted the orange one continuing with the poses.

"... the Meikyu brothers!" the both shouted.

"Pfft!" snickered Anzu. Makoto scratched the back of her head, "Are they serious? This is way more pathetic that Tuxedo Mask's speeches!" she muttered.

"Who is Tuxedo Mask?" asked Usagi blinking in confusion.

"You don't know? Not the slightest clue? Even in your heart?" probed Luna in disbelief, as Usagi stared at her as if she was crazy.

"No. Why are you asking? And what kind of name is Tuxedo Mask?" spoke Usagi, as if it was plainly ridiculous. Luna opened her mouth to say something else, but the Meikyu brothers interrupted them:

"Hey! You have to duel us!" they hollered.

"I can give you that!" challenged Yami, the warrior's blood in his veins boiling. Usagi moved to stand besides him, a smirk upon her face: "Yami, perhaps a warm up to our upcoming duel. This time we'll battle side to side."

"I agree," Yami turned to Jounoochi, who seemed slightly disappointed, "Is this fine with you Jounoochi?"

"Feh. Just grind them into the floor for insulting me," growled Jounoochi, angrily looking at the two brothers: angry at them calling him an unknown duellist. Yami sweatdropped.

"It's a deal, Jou-kun!" cheered Usagi as she made her way over to the duelling platform. Jounoochi turned back to Honda, Anzu, Makoto, Ryou and Luna.

"You think she likes me," he asked stupidly, pointing at himself with a randy grin.

"Not in this world, idiot!" exclaimed Makoto, smacking the blonde upside his head, as he whined in pain, at the strength of the Amazon.

Yami entered the duelling platform, and Usagi flashed him a smile and victory sign, "Let's finish this quickly, Yami," she grinned.

"With your deck it will be easy," retorted Yami.

"You sound disapproving," pouted Usagi making puppy dog eyes at her rival.

"Well, it seemed as if you are cheating, sort of," defended Yami quickly under the attack of the dreaded puppy-dog eyes.

"Ah, well you see. It's not my fault Keith had no defence against summoned monsters," explained the blonde as if it was plainly obvious, "If he had Torrential Tribute or something, I would be screwed. He probably had defence against me attacking, but I never said I had to attack."

"Will you be playing with the same deck in the finals?" asked Yami.

"Are you scared to lose?" coyly drawled Usagi, "Besides didn't you say so yourself that having more than forty cards is cheating in this tournament?" she pointed out, a teasing smirk upon her lips only becoming wider as Yami flushed at the tone she was using.

"I'm the King of Games, I never lose," he huffed, crossing his arms, sending a mirroring smirk back at her, narrowing his eyes. Unconsciously he even felt his own shadow powers reaching out to her own power that had also snaked its way towards him, and the tendrils of magic twisting around each other, as if trying to get a taste of each other. Yami gulped, his gaze at the moment of that exact thought landed at her lips.

"Well, we'll see with what deck I will be playing in the finals," drawled Usagi, "Perhaps just for a challenge if you make it to the last battle I shall humour you," she sent him a wink, "and play with a different deck to show you the vast difference between the daughter of the God of the Card Game and a mere duellist." She sent him a mock kiss, only further accentuating his attention at those… pink… inviting lips. He could feel the heat upon his cheeks. She was teasing him and taunting, and bringing him out of balance by using her womanly charms. _How dare she… that… vixen!_

* * *

Neither of the two noted the flabbergasted gazes their friends all had. Luna and Makoto were looking upon the show half-horrified, half-flustered: flustered because they had never seen this side of Usagi before, horrified because they could easily feel the light and dark power intermingling, caressing each other, and it was _huge_. Jounoochi and Honda were astounded: never before had the other Yugi acted so different from their Yugi. So _this _was the _type of girls _the other Yugi liked. A glimpse at Anzu would prove that she was half-disappointed, half-flustered: disappointed – well, after all, she had even endangered her life once on purpose to meet the other Yugi, but he always treated her as a simple friend, flustered – because the burning glimpses the other Yugi sent towards Usagi, she felt their het. And Ryou was simply flustered.

"I would think you are insulting me, little rabbit," deliberately the pharaoh stretched his words in a sultry fashion, as he looked at the blonde temptress, who twirled a lock of her hair haughtily and smirked at him exciting him once more. He would enjoy his duel against her.

"I am not. I am merely stating the large gap between our capabilities," spoke the blonde Duellist Princess.

"Will you duel us or not!" suddenly the shout interrupted their verbal match. The two duellists turned to the bald men, displeasure written on their faces.

"Bring it on, Mario brothers!" exclaimed Usagi, slamming her deck onto the terminal.

"Then enter..." spoke Mei.

"... the labyrinth field!" exclaimed Kyu.

* * *

Mei: 2000

Kyu: 2000

Yami: 2000

Usagi: 2000

* * *

"They are annoying me with their way of speaking," drawled Usagi, her smile slightly twitching.

"Same here," sighed Yami.

"Wager your star chips!" angrily spoke the Mei brother, angered at their nonchalant way of dismissing them.

"I'll bet four!" said Usagi.

"I'll also bet four! A total of eight." The pair placed the corresponding star chips onto the duel terminals.

"We'll see that bet!" replied the brothers.

"Usa-chan," purred Yami, deliberately shortening her name and drawling it in a sultry way, making the blonde rabbit jump in embarrassment, "If we win this duel we'll have ten star chips! We can go to the castle."

"Oh, all right!" she laughed.

The orange clad brother, Mei began the duel: "I go first! And I play this card!" He placed a card on the fields and suddenly from the ground of the battlefield walls started rising. Yami jumped in surprise as their battlefield completely changed.

"What in the name of Ra is that!" exclaimed Yami, as the arena shook, "Usagi?" Yet the blonde duellist was observing the happening with a complete lack of interest. She shrugged dispassionately:

"I have no idea. I hold no interest in father's games," then her bored smile became sheepish, "Though now I wish I would," she laughed.

"This is the Labyrinth field! Just try to get to those doors!" spoke the Meikyu brothers each pointing towards their respective doors.

"Good luck, you guys!" exclaimed Anzu.

"Usagi, kick open the door to glory!" shouted Makoto encouragingly. Yami facefaulted at the choice of phrase Makoto chose, as she shouted something else just as strange.

"Door to glory? Is she serious?" asked Yami in disbelief. Usagi looked at him, laughing cheerfully.

"That's Makoto-chan for you. She's a bit crazy."

"Now that my first turn is over, let me explain the new rules. All four players have 2000 life points each. But your life is tied to your partner's. If one partner loses all his life points both partners die and – and both lose," spoke the Mei brother. Usagi gasped at that and turned to Yami with an evil smile, making the red-eyed youth falter for a second. What was her problem? When duelling, she seemed rather strange. And she always had a smile on her face. _Always! _That crept him out a bit. Yami fought down a shiver.

"Don't you dare lose, Yami. Or I'll have your hide!" hissed the blonde girl, never wiping off that smile and immediately at her words Yami growled. Who did she think he was? He wouldn't loose! He was the damn King of Games! The Yu-gi-Ou!

"Same goes to you," he purred back. The two glared at each other heatedly, the pressure in the atmosphere raising until a painfully heavy point, and then dissolving, as soon as the two, simultaneously winked at each other and turned back to their opponents. Luckily for Yami no one noticed his blush. And luckily for Usagi also. Because in reality, they both thought of winking at each other to waver the other's pride, but ended up doing it at the same time. And both successfully managed what they planned.

"Is it me, or am I feeling a strange sort of chemistry between them?" drawled Jounoochi.

"Are they flirting?" muttered Anzu in disbelief.

"They sure have a strange way of flirting then," pointed out Honda.

"Enough with your lover chit-chat!" growled the Kyu brother. The red-eyed and the blue-eyed duellists became as red as ripe tomatoes as both exploded at the same time.

"We're not lovers!" Their yell echoed in the hall.

The silence afterwards was deafening, only the heavy breathing of the flushed Yami and Usagi disturbed it.

"Oh, yes, denial," noted Honda with an all-knowing face. The two duellists immediately whipped around to glare evilly at the loudmouth. The next second Honda was trying to crawl away speaking something about a blonde harpy and a red-eyed demon making him worm food. The "_cheerleader squad_" promptly fell over.

"We alternate turns," gritted out Mei, trying to continue the duel, "One player on each team. And now about this labyrinth field. We shall explain how to play."

"To make it simple, think of your monsters as chess pieces, if the card is in attack mode it can advance as many spaces per turn as the number of stars on he card."

"If you can survive the dungeon and beat us gate keepers, you can open one of the two doors. But which door will you choose?" explained Kyu.

"Mei, the door of deception?" pointed the orange-clad man towards his own door.

"Or Kyu, the door of the palace? And from now on, one of us will always tell the truth and one of us will always lie," the green clad man, Kyu, grinned evilly.

"That better be the truth!" exclaimed Yami.

"Peh, now this part is where I shall not believe their words. Look at them, they're obviously lying! And besides, I've actually heard about your tactic Meikyu brothers," huffed Usagi, glancing lazily at her opponents, who cursed quietly, gritting their teeth. Sighing the girl continued: "But in any case, let's play. We'll figure out the correct door after the duel. Right, Yami?"

"I would have to agree with you. You are a cautious woman," complimented the spirit. Yet his words didn't have the wanted effect. Instead Usagi stared at him in astonishment and disbelief.

"Don't tell me you believed them for even one moment," she deadpanned as Yami fell over at her words.

"I never said I did!" he vehemently denied, jumping up, he paused and smirked at his partner, "Did you doubt me that much, little rabbit?"

"Who know, who knows. I have yet to see your strengths," waved Usagi him off indifferently.

"Will this duel ever start?" shouted the Meikyu brothers, as the two duellists once more glared at them irritated with the interruption.

Yami drew a card, "Resume the game! Now it's my turn. I play the Beaver Warrior (1200/1500), attack mode! Four stars so it moves forwards four spaces!" On the field a rat-like creature in armour appeared on the battle field, with a tiny squeak it moved into the labyrinth, as Usagi cooed how cute it was, when squeaking like that, "My turn's over," announced Yami.

The green-clad brother, Kyu, drew a card and a nasty grin made its way to his face, "First, I play the polymerization card, and then the Shadow Ghoul! I merge Shadow Ghoul with the board itself!" he shouted. On the field a disgusting creature with sickles for hands appeared, and fused with the labyrinth wall. Immediately a shadow started speeding towards the Beaver Warrior via the walls of the labyrinth.

"It can't be! The shadow is approaching us along the labyrinth walls!" exclaimed Usagi, just as the Wall Shadow extended from the wall, extending its claws and slashing across the Beaver Warrior, which had no chance against the opponent's monster.

"Now you see, the Wall Shadow can instantly intercept any intrudes that enter the labyrinth! Nothing survives its deadly blades!" gloated Kyu finishing his turn.

* * *

_Yami: 1900_

_Usagi: 2000_

_Mei: 2000_

_Kyu: 2000_

* * *

"You're speaking to soon, Kyu!" shouted Usagi, "First, I activate this magic card, Henshin! With this no matter which first level soldier I summon, I may instantly summon their correct counterpart. And I summon Aphrodite's Chosen! Due to the effect of Henshin, I discard this card to the graveyard and summon Soldier of Love (1700/1400), Level five monster. She will not be moving this turn!" On the field a golden-skinned metal-clad blonde female with golden eyes appeared, flirtingly waving over at the Meikyu brother, "Also I place one magic/trap card face down and end my turn!"

Kyu sneered, "Pity, that the strength of your monster will be lowered, since my Shadow Monster has the element of surprise _(2)_."

This time it was once more the elder brother's, Mei's, turn: "My turn! First I'll play a trap card facedown! And now I play Labyrinth tank (2400/2400 Lvl 7)!" A malicious looking tank with large drills spinning appeared at their side of the fields, immediately it moved into the Labyrinth starting to advance towards their side of the field.

Yami frowned. It was time for his turn. But he didn't have any card at the moment, which could advance into the labyrinth. He glimpsed Usagi nodding encouragingly at him, and his attention turned back to the golden Soldier of Love who was flinging round a chain of hearts, as if bored. Of course… he could trust Usagi, and he decided to do that, so he announced: "It's my turn! I play the Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) in attack mode! Advance into the Labyrinth!"

And if he was correct, Kyu would definitely attack him, and of course Kyu laughed haughtily shouting to his monster, "Wall Shadow Strike. Target Celtic Guardian! You can't escape; the wall shadow will kill you in one blow. The elf is dead!" The man laughed like a banshee, as the Wall Shadow appeared over the Celtic Guardian. And then a clang of metal sounded.

"Got you," cheered Usagi, "Activate Soldier of Love's special effect! Use your Love-me Chain to catch the Shadow!" she shouted. The chain that the soldier twirled around indifferently before was hurtled towards the Wall Shadow effectively catching it.

"No! She got the Shadow!" exclaimed the Kyu brother distressed by the turnaround of the match.

"This is the Soldier of Love's special effect," spoke Usagi, "Once per turn she can select a monster, which will be caught by her Love-Me Chain and won't be able to attack! Also it lowers the attack points of Wall Shadow by 500!" Yami grinned. This was his cue. Now the Celtic Guardian was stronger than the Wall Shadow that attacked him.

"Strike back, Celtic Guardian!" The yellow-eyed elf raised his sword, and promptly cut the Wall Shadow in half. Usagi cheered jumping up and down, as the twins glared at them in anger.

* * *

_Mei: 2000_

_Kyu: 1700_

_Usagi: 2000_

_Yugi: 1900_

* * *

"Nice teamwork, you guys!" yelled Anzu.

"Usa-chan, it's your turn," pointed out Yami to the jumping rabbit, who immediately nodded and still kind of skipping on one spot looked through her cards.

She slammed down a card onto the field, "I'm on it! In this turn, I summon the Child of Death! Due to Henshin's effect I discard this card to the graveyard and summon Soldier of Silence (2500/2000, LVL 7) from my deck. Soldier of Silence advances five fields into the Labyrinth." On the field a female monster in a black robe appeared, wearing a skull mask upon her face.

"Don't you want to go further?" taunted Mei

"I'll think of it, Mei. I'm done," responded Usagi hastily, glancing over at the monitor which still showed that face-down card placed a turn before.

Mei only smiled evilly, and ordered his Tank, "My turn! Labyrinth Tank, move forwards!"

"It's my turn again!" Yami drew a card, and smirked, Usagi would not be the only one with power-monsters on her field, he had his favourite monster here too, "I play the Dark Magician (2500/2100 LVL 7)! Advance in attack mode!"

From the card the violet-clad magician flipped upwards and stoically made his way forwards coming to a half before the Soldier of Silence and Soldier of Love, who were standing in front of the Celtic Guardian.

"Wow, so cool!" cooed Anzu happily, "Yugi and Usagi have real good monsters on the fields and all close by! They won't be able to get past them!"

It was once more the turn of the green Kyu, who viewed their formation with obvious displeasure, "Free ride is over! I play this card! Magical Labyrinth!" with that a magic card was slammed onto the field and everything started shaking. The walls started moving, changing. And one wall came up between their monsters separating them by pair in different halls.

"There is a wall between our pieces now!" cried out Usagi. Yami glanced at her. It was really disturbing when she cried out something in distress, still managing to keep on smiling. She looked kind of like from the crazy house. Well… there was at least one point where she was like Pegasus, and actually it was better she was a bit crazy like her father, instead of stealing souls and causing grief to other people.

"Don't worry, Usagi. We both have high-level monsters on the field. They won't be able to beat us!" he assured.

"Both of your pieces are isolated!" exclaimed Kyu revelling in the success of his plan. "Thank you, Captain Obvious," muttered Usagi rolling her eyes. Yami guffawed as the two brothers glared in disdain at Usagi. "My turn now! I suppose we should reach Yami's monsters. It's going to be a detour, but Soldier of Love, advance, Soldier of Silence, move after her!"

The moment her golden soldier took a step forwards, a disgusting looking thing burst from the underground.

"Trap card activate!" announced Kyu gleefully, "Trapdoor spider attacks your Soldier of Love which was moving in front! Jirai Gumo, attack! (2100/100)." The spider wrapped its body around the Soldier of Love, the acid from its mouth melting the golden warrior to nothing, as Usagi laughed nervously. Well, she did want to shriek. But that would have broken her record of always duelling with a smile.

* * *

_Mei: 2000_

_Kyu: 1700_

_Usagi: 1600_

_Yugi: 1900_

* * *

"Well, it's sad," she giggled tensely, "but you activated my own trap card! I activate Unity Through Battle, a continuous trap card, which will work as long as I have one of the Soldiers of Four Guardian Deities to summon! As soon as one of the four soldiers is attacked, I may summon another Guardian Deity soldier from my hand or deck. And I summon the Soldier of Lightning (1900/1200 LVL5)!" Behind her Makoto gasped as from the ground where the Soldier of Love last was seen emerged a tall, willowy green-haired Soldier with electricity coursing around her, "Thanks to the special effect of the trap card, she appears in stead of Soldier of Love!"

Kyu exclaimed in disbelief: "You fool, Jirai Gumo will destroy her too."

Yet the blonde duellist simply smirked, waving his words off, "Not so fast. I activate Soldier of Lightning's special effect. Once summoned I may destroy one trap card on the field. Guess what I'm destroying! Say goodbye to your Trapdoor Spider!" Kyu could only watch in surprise as a surge of lightning from above struck the field and Jirai Gumo disappeared.

Mei scoffed, as he drew a card, "My turn now. Tank, advance!" he spoke evenly.

"Are you stupid?" exclaimed Usagi in disbelief, "My Soldier of Silence is stronger than the tank!" She froze the moment the older brother flipped the card he drew, "But this will do the trick. I activate spell card Burden of the Mighty! Each monster you two control shall loose 100ATK points times their LVL!" he spoke, placing the card on the field. Yami and Usagi cursed simultaneously as the ATK points of their monsters fell to ridiculous levels.

"Damn it!" cursed the blonde duellist, next turn her Soldiers would be dead meat for sure.

Dark Magician (1800/2100). Soldier of Silence (1800/2000). Celtic Guardian (1000/1200). Soldier of Lightning (1400/1200).

"Fear not Usagi. Your monsters shall not die needlessly," spoke Yami suddenly. The girl frowne, did he really think she needed someone to save her, she was very capable on her own.

"Yami, don't try to be my knight in shining armour. I can beat them myself," snapped the blonde girl, slightly blushing at his gallant declaration.

"Really? It looks pretty hard for you," stated Yami baldly.

"Well, not like you can do much. Your Dark Magician is just as weak as my Soldier of Silence," went off Usagi, pointing towards his Magician. Really, she had no need for him interfering. She could finish this duel on her own.

Yet the youth with tri-coloured hair paid no heed to her, "Well, you think so?" he asked, "And now for my next card! Mystic Box of Death in combination with the Dark Magician!" As he placed the chosen card onto the field a box fell from the sky onto the Dark Magician. Usagi pursed her lips, bluntly staring at the Dark Magician. What was Yami planning to do now? Countless knives appeared in the air around the box and pierced the Mystical Box.

"Yami, you just killed your Dark Magician!" Usagi stood aghast.

Yami grinned. "Really? Look, there are two boxes!" The blonde turned back towards the field and sweatdropped. The Labyrinth Tank, well rather the spot where it was, was covered by the box.

"The tank fit there?" asked Usagi one eyebrow raised dubiously.

"The first one is opening!" exclaimed the Mei brother, and Usagi glanced there, "Our tank? What is it doing there? The circuitry is smashed!" Sure enough, there was the Tank, literally grinded into the box, the knives piercing the electronic devices, the monster pretty much smashed to nothing.

"Get it now?" went off Yami, "The Magician teleported using the Mystic Box! It switched places with you Tank suing it as a sacrifice. Sorry to wreck your plan! But you seriously cannot hope to beat the King of Games and the Queen of Games."

"Eh? Queen of Games?" Usagi stood blinking, just as flabbergasted as everyone else (except the Meikyuu brother) by his proclamation.

With a growl, the Kyu brother slammed a card onto the field, "Don't think it's that easy, you'll never escape. Resume the game! My turn! I play this card."

In the far end of their field a closed blue box appeared.

"Eh, what's that box?" Usagi warily regarded the box, feeling as if she had seen it sometime before.

"No idea, nothing good definitely," dryly stated Yami.

Still frowning the rabbit drew a card, and grinned, whatever was in the box didn't matter now: she had her winning combination, "Okay! My turn! First, I play the magic card Silence Glaive and attach it to the Soldier of Silence! Soldier of Silence (2400/3000)," from the ground in front of the Soldier of Silence a long staff rose, made out of bones, a wickedly curved blade ominously glinting on top, "Also the Glaive's special effect is activated. Each turn of mine I shall place a spell counter on this card. When three counters are on this card, my opponent shall suffer 4000LP damage. But since there are two of you it will be divided. But nonetheless it will be enough. Also I place two spell/trap cards face down on the field. End turn!" As she announced the end of her turn the Silence Glaive started glowing a deep purple colour.

"Nice one Usagi. I'll have to look out for that card," gave Yami her a thumbs up.

But the Meikyuu brother didn't seem to believe that the Silence Glaive would survive until the end of Usagi's third turn, as Mei placed another card, which made another box appear. And then he summoned a monster: "I play this in attack mode! The Dungeon Worm (1800/1500)."

Once more the ground started shaking. "Why is everything shaking!" whined Usagi. She really disliked this whole rattle-the-ground idea. Why couldn't the arena lack the movement effect, they would understand everything just fine without the ground shaking as well. And then from beneath the ground a disgusting worm-like creature burst out, with the Celtic Guardian in it's teeth.

"Yuck!" she had now a hard time keeping her smile on her face. Why did they use such disgusting monsters?

"A monster from the underground. It ate your Celtic Guardian. Ew, that's so disgusting!" whined the blonde.

* * *

_Mei: 2000_

_Kyu: 1700_

_Usagi: 1600_

_Yami: 1100_

* * *

"Between meals it hides underground. But no matter where you run, you're worm food," gloated Mei.

Yami overlooked the field where their monsters were looking around, on high alert, waiting for the underground menace, "I'll use this card! Magical Hats!" From the sky four hats fell onto their monsters and shifted back and forth: "The Magician and the Soldiers are hidden somewhere under those top hats. Even with its power-up from eating the elf Dungeon Worm only has 1980 ATK points. If it chooses the hat with the Soldier of Silence, Dungeon worm is dead!" shouted the red-eyed youth.

"You foolish boy! Your Dark Magician and the other Soldier have much more chances at being eaten!" replied angrily Mei, but Kyu suddenly started chuckling, and the older brother glanced at him, a glance was exchanged between them, and similar nasty smirks reflected on their faces. Usagi cursed.

"Heh. Then I play this card! Monster Tamer (1800/1600)," spoke Kyu, summoning a very thin and hungry monster equipped with a whip to the field, "Ordinarily I wouldn't be able to control my brother's monster. But by using Monster Tamer I not only take control of the Dungeon Worm, I increase its power by 600 points!"

"Damn it!" cursed Yami and Usagi barely could even smile.

"Attack, Dungeon Worm (2580/1500)!" shouted Kyu and Usagi sincerely prayed upon her luck.

"I can't watch!" exclaimed Anzu covering her face with her hands. The next moment, when nothing happened, no monster screeched in its final moments of life, the girl looked up seeing the green-clad brother clenching his fist.

"Damn it," grit out Kyu.

Usagi sighed in relief and drew a card, immediately the smile was back on full force, "Very well, I will stop your advance, Meikyuu brothers. I activate Serenity's Compassion! With this I may summon one of the Soldiers from the Graveyard to the field! Thus I summon Soldier of Love (1200/1400) to the field." Immediately next to the torn up hat appeared the Soldier of Love _(3). _She grinned up at the Chinese men, twirling her whip around.

"That annoying card again!" shouted Kyu.

"That's right!" taunted Usagi, "And now, Soldier of Love, activate your special power. Send your chain after the worm," the Soldier of Love leaped up and sent her chain into the hole left by the worm, and a moment later a screech was heard from underground as she dragged the worm up.

"Soldier of Silence (2400ATK)," the black-clad Lady Death jumped out from beneath the hat, "attack Dungeon Worm (2080ATK) now that it's been weakened by Soldier of Love!" Obeying her mistress the black-clad female monster slashed with her Glaive through the worm, causing the worm to dissolve immediately into dust.

* * *

_Mei: 1680_

_Kyu: 1700_

_Yami: 1100_

_Usagi: 1600_

* * *

"That's so awesome. I never knew Usagi was such a good strategist," exclaimed Luna, watching in awe how the girl she had mostly known as an easy-going battle-avoiding teenager in her previous life, easily turned the table on her opponents and with just one turn. In fact, her cards were directly connected to the Sailor Senshi power, Luna would bet her life, that she would be even a better leader than Venus in this life.

"She's the daughter of Pegasus, duh! Of course she would be," stated Anzu, with an exasperated sigh. Luna sweatdropped, she was being suspicious again.

"Yes, this time around Usagi-chan is much more of a leader," cheered Makoto, and Luna barely restrained herself from smacking the Jupiter Senshi, who obviously forgot that there were _other _people around.

"This time around?" asked Anzu.

"Ah, just a phrase. Just a phrase!" quickly clarified Luna.

"You did good, Usa-chan," said the red-eyed duellist, who was partnered with her charge. The Mau-jin narrowed her eyes at the youth. She didn't like him. No, it wasn't a feeling of deep disgust like she felt the moment she had met Jadeite on that ship long ago, no, it was more like a conscious desire to keep him away from Usagi. She was sure that Makoto also saw the way his definitely _dark _magic circled around their princess, reaching towards her light, feeding on it, and tainting it.

"No need for praise, Yami-kun, I'm the daughter of the Card Game God after all! I play another facedown card, place another counter on the Silence Glaive card and end my turn," replied coyly her princess. And there was also the issue of her princess replying to his advances. Her own magic also fed on his power and intermingled with it, and they became like the twilight, when dark and light merged together. And Luna had been alive for long enough to know what this meant. They were forming a bond. And that couldn't be allowed. The princess was meant to be together with Endymion, they had a bond that lasted centuries. And here her princess was in the process of forming a bond with this dark creature, who wasn't even in his own body.

Oh, yes, Luna saw it clearly he was just using that body. In fact, perhaps none of the others paid any other attention, but Usagi never called that boy Yugi. She called him Yami, Darkness. And if that wasn't a warning sign…

"Cheer while you can. For without further ado – I play this! Thunder, Wind and Water are united! Rise Gate Guardian! Demon God of the three elements," announced the orange-clad opponent of her princess, as he set down the last card, lightening, water and wind rose up on their side of the field and tri-coloured metal monster rose from the ground.

"What in the name of Jupiter is that?" exclaimed Makoto.

"Sanga of the Thunder (2600ATK)! Kazejin (2400ATK). Suijin (2500ATK). The Gate Guardian!" laughed Mei.

"Argh, why do we get a boss character!" whined Usagi.

"Usagi! Don't whine! It's unbecoming," scolded Luna. It really came out automatically. Because when she had retrieved her memories in this world, she fell back to her old behaviour. Immediately the purple-haired woman realized her mistake as those foreign blue-eyes, that were still bright in their nature, but much more colder, like the cold heights in the sky, endless blue and absolutely cold, and these eyes were much more calculative even though the girl hid it beneath a bubbly attitude. This Usagi watched her cautiously and then spoke quietly.

"Eh, Luna-san, don't nag." There was a slight warning in her voice.

"Eh, sorry," quickly apologized Luna. It wouldn't be wise to get on this Usagi's bad side. They knew what to expect from their old Usagi, but this one while staying that same person, had different reactions. This one flirted back with her rivals, this one made traps and tricks to win the battle, this one had a solid iron spine. And unlike them none of the Sailor Senshi fell back into their old behaviour. They were all different, in the right kind of way.

And this is what scared Luna the most. Because it felt absolutely right that Usagi stuck so close to that dark creature!

The dark being in her mind, set two cards on the field, "I'm going to play two cards face down. Turn over!"

Kyu, the green-clad brother, announced: "My turn! Gate Guardian use you power. Sanga of the Thunder, attack the Soldier of Silence! Say goodbye to your special magic card, Miss Usagi!"

Through the dungeon an electrical current charged towards the Soldier of Silence, and Usagi smiled: "I knew this would be useful. For the price destroying the Silence Glaive and the cost of 200LP I activate Silence Wall! This shall protect my monster! And the attack gets reflected back at you!"

The Soldier of Silence brought forwards the Glaive and a violet wall of energy shot up in front of her, the shield reflected the electrical current hurtling it back towards the attacking monster.

"Kazejin! Reflection! Storm barricade! Reflection activates automatically when an enemy attacks. Nothing hurts the Gate Guardian!" cried out Kyu.

Usagi smirked as she pointed towards the bone-thin Monster Tamer, which was electrocuted by the reflected attack.

"Too bad your other monster isn't safe! The Monster Tamer is dead meat now!"

And the Soldier of Silence reflected her smirk, as the Silence Glaive dissolved into a flurry of sparkles in her hands.

* * *

_Mei: 1680_

_Kyu: 900_

_Usagi: 1400_

_Yami: 1100_

* * *

"My turn now! I start with activating Mystical Space Typhoon! And I destroy your Burden of the Mighty. Now our monsters are back to their full strength again!" exclaimed Usagi.

Dark Magician: 2500. Soldier of Lightning: 1900. Soldier of Love: 1700. Soldier of Silence: 2500.

"Time for payback! Soldier of Silence, attack Kazejin!" yelled Usagi, completely forgetting about the reflective capabilities of the Gate Guardian.

"Reflection! Wall of Water!" barked the orange brother. And Usagi cursed. Mei glowered at her: "Pay the price for your insolence. Aqua wave! Say goodbye to two of your soldiers!"

A huge tidal wave went over the field flooding everything, yet much to the surprise of her opponents the Soldier of Silence leaped on top of a top-hat which were still on the field, "While the Soldier of Love is gone. This is the Soldier of Silence's special effect. Should a monster of same power attack Soldier of Silence, they shall not be destroyed. In a way this helped you also," she spoke.

* * *

_Mei: 1680_

_Kyu: 900_

_Usagi: 600_

_Yami: 1100_

* * *

Yami grinned at Usagi. She was good. Very good. In fact he was already anticipating their duel in the finals. It had been long since he had so much fun. "Now, it's my turn. I'll use this card to avenge the Soldier of Love. Come forth Summoned Skull (2500/1200 LVL5)!" At their side of the maze from the ground swirling dark cloud appeared and from them rose the fear-instilling Summoned Skull roaring in answer to his master's summon.

"You plan to avenge me with that ugly monster?" asked Usagi with an even face.

"Does it really matter?" called out Yami. But, even though he was having this much fun, sometimes, Usagi managed just to get the better of him.

"Yes it does. It's scary!" she cried out, pointing at the Summoned Skull, who surprisingly looked a bit disturbed by her exclamation, although how the skull-faced monster did that, Yami had no idea.

"You're such a baby!" sighed the pharaoh.

"It's at the beginning of the maze. Its attack won't reach the Gate Guardian anyways!" mocked the duo Mei.

"We'll see about that. I'll follow the footsteps of Soldier of Love. The footsteps of her path through the maze," promised Yami pointing towards the ground which was flooded by the water.

"The water!" cried out the brothers,

"This means you die!" shouted Yami, "Demon Lightning!"

"Forget it!" scoffed Kyu, "I'll blow away the water with Kazejin's wing power! Reflection!"

Yet nothing happened, as Kyu paled at the quickly advancing electricity.

"Surprised?" asked Yami in a mocking voice, "Here's a clue. Remember when you wave passed over the top hats? It activated a trap card I set there! Spellbinding Circle! Kazejin is now useless." A pentagram encircling the middle-part of the monster appeared, "And as for Suijin... Eat lightning!" roared Yami just as the lightning passed through the water-god destroying the lower part of the Gate Guardian.

"Eat lightning? I like that guy!" said Makoto.

* * *

_Mei: 1680_

_Kyu: 780_

_Usagi: 600_

_Yami: 1100_

* * *

Kyu sneered, "My turn. I'll get back at you for this! De-spell! The spellbinding circle is removed. Your turn now!"

Usagi beamed as she drew a card, this would be good, "Good. I have just the cards to summon something awesome. I sacrifice Time Guardian, Ocean Magician and Wind Walker from my hand, to use this magic card. Talisman Guardians! Through this I summon the Trinity of Soldiers. Soldier of Oceans (1800/1700 LVL6). Soldier of Wind (2000/1500 LVL6). Soldier of Time (1500/2000 LVL5)!" Immediately on the field in a lightshow of colours three soldiers rose from the ground next to the Summoned Skull. One was of turquoise colour, her dress seemingly made of sea foam, her skin like fish scales. The other one was floating above the ground, her dress navy blue, and colours of the desert. The last one was wearing a black robe similar to the Soldier of Silences and only garnet eyes were gleaming from beneath the hood. Yet, Usagi wasn't finished yet, "Also immediately their special effects are activated. The Soldier of Wind gains addition 500ATK point since Soldier of Oceans is on the field (2500ATK)! Soldier of Oceans gains additional 500DEF points. (2200DEF)." The mentioned soldiers glowed turquoise and navy as their stats went up.

"Your monsters are still weak! They won't last against the Gate Guardian," screeched Kyu.

"If you say so," spoke Usagi placing another card onto the field, she had at the moment a very good chance of drawing the cards she needed, "I play the Pot of Greed," she drew the cards and smirked, "Then I place one card facedown. And I play the Key of Time sacrificing the Soldier of Time to bring back the Silence Glaive and attach it back to Soldier of Silence. Although, now I don't get the additional power-up," the brother looked at her in exasperation, and Usagi decided to break it to them now, why she chose to loose the power-up, "But I received something better instead. It is brought back with the two counters it already had. So next time it is my turn, you're dead!" The Glaive in Soldier of Silence's arm glowed an eerie red colour. The next turn it would glow violet and the battle would be over.

"Nice one," praised Yami, Usagi gratuitously smiled in return. Now, they just had to survive the turns of Mei and Kyu.

"Hope you have some nice moves also, Yami-kun," she spoke hoping he would understand her hint.

Mei drew a card and something sinister appeared on his face, Usagi gulped trying hard not to loose the smile: "My turn! I play the legendary card Ryoku! I steal half of your Life points and give it to our monsters!"

* * *

_Mei: 1680_

_Kyu: 780_

_Usagi: 300_

_Yami: 550_

* * *

Sanga (2900ATK), Kazejin (2950ATK).

"Pity, I can't attack after using Ryoku, but you'll be dead the next turn!" gleefully announced Mei, just as Usagi cursed. The blonde vixen glanced at him. Oh, yes, he knew what she expected from him. Their hopes were all on the Silence Glaive although he did have a couple backup strategies left. But this turn Kyu would attack the Soldier of Silence. Yami smirked as he glanced down at the facedown trap card he laid down a few turns before.

If Kyu would loose his cautiousness he would play into his trap.

"I skip this turn," he stated bluntly and immediately winced as Usagi shouted at him: "What, you can't do that! We will be defeated! I already dragged this duel out longer than I had to! But now I'll be _defeated? _I can't let that happen."

"There is nothing in my hand I can use," he shrugged. She honestly could have some more belief in him. It was Kyu's turn now and by the look on the man's face he bought the bate.  
"Ahahaha, perfect! Gate Guardian attack!" laughed the green-clad brother.

"Oh no! I can't watch this!" cried out Usagi covering her face with her hands. It was the first time she lost her weird smile during this duel. Yami half-heartedly grinned and flipped his card.

"The hell?" cursed Kyu, as all the monsters were still safe on the battlefield.

"Mirror Force," gloated Yami, "This is the card I've been withholding. Your attack is reflected."

"But Kazejin shall protect Sanga," smirked Mei.

"Do you think that was my wish?" asked Yami darkly, "I sincerely hoped you would attack after my statement. Because now you will end your turn," Kyu looked at Usagi, who had lowered her hands and a dark smile was upon her face, "And guess what happens." The spirit motioned towards the Soldier of Silence who was pulsing with power.

"The Silence Glaive," he spoke quietly.

"My turn," spoke Usagi, "The Soldier of Silence is ready to drop her Glaive! And that she shall do. Soldier of Silence, attack! Death Reborn Revolution!" And the Soldier of Silence cried out as she lowered her Glaive. A shining violet sphere formed on top of it and grew in size until in enveloped the whole battlefield bringing everything to nothing. The arena shut down as their opponents' life-points were brought to zero.

* * *

_Mei: 0_

_Kyu: 0_

_Usagi: 300_

_Yami: 550_

* * *

"We win!" cheered Usagi, jumping down from her stand.

"Yes, they did it! Teamwork comes through," Jounoochi pumped his fist into the air. Luna and Makoto stood still as everyone congratulated their princess and that dark creature.

"Usagi's deck is really amazing, isn't it?" quietly said Makoto, yet Anzu overheard.

"It doesn't matter. Usagi and Yugi have now ten star chips! The earned the right to go to Pegasus's castle," she pointed out.

"Hey, what about me?" cried out Jounoochi.

"Don't worry. Here, take them. I battled for the fact that they called you an unknown duellist," Usagi extended her hand holding out two star chips.

"Wait, you mean, you needed only two," incredulously exclaimed the blonde youth, Usagi nodded with a smile in reply to him.

"I'd like to duel you in the finals too, but I think that by this time no more duellists are left up on the ground," she noted. For a second Jounoochi stood as if mulling over the decision, but in a while he grabbed them, whooping in joy, as their princess giggled.

"But the game isn't over yet," darkly spoke Mei. Usagi whirled around, her cold gaze zeroing in on the suddenly trembling Mei brother.

"You do realize I know how this works? And you do realize if I get stuck in the labyrinth after beating you both my father will not pay you?" she said darkly.

"What do you mean Usagi-chan?" asked Anzu, confused over the whole ordeal.

"Simple. I overheard father speaking about them. No matter which door will we choose the other one will be right one, that is the trick," explained the blonde rabbit. Makoto growled at her words. So, they were planning to trick them from the beginning! How dare they try to deceive her princess, when she beat them fair and square.

"What? I'll pummel them both," Makoto started advancing on the distressed brothers, yet Usagi held up her hand.

"So, shall you open the doors or must I tell my father about this?" she inquired once more, her voice threatening.

"Miss Usagi, but..." began to speak one of them.

"No buts!" shouted Usagi, making everyone including the brothers jump. Makoto sweat dropped. She had rarely seen Usagi do this. But the brothers must have annoyed her to the limit, if she was actually exercising her power and status over them. The Meikyuu brother sighed and immediately opened a door.

"I had a way to beat them actually at their game. I figured it out also," that dark being spoke to her princess, stepping to stand beside her, his red-eyes glinting. Makoto shivered, how could Usagi simply stand his presence. It was so… suffocating.

"That's nice," waved Usagi the youth off nonchalantly.

"You don't sound as if you believe me," growled Yami.

"Oi, Ryou-kun, let's go," shouted Usagi to that white-haired boy who also had a suffocating presence, though that dark power of his was carefully concealed. The white-haired boy was startled by her shout, as he jumped and looked around confused.

"What? What happened just now? Did you just win?" he inquired, oblivious to everyone's concern.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Anzu, putting a hand to his forehead, as Ryou tentatively nodded.

"Let's go," said Usagi, "We are finally getting to the finals!"

The group advanced through the cave, until finally making it to stairs that led outside.

"There's an exit!" shouted Usagi, as the breeze from the outside ruffled her long strands of hair. The group of teenagers shuffled out of the caves relieved that they finally got out. And they were right at the stairs to Pegasus's castle as well. Luna shifted nervously, whispering quickly to Makoto that they needed to get Usagi to speak to them in private, just as they were climbing the stairs to the main entrance. In fact, as Makoto noticed, Yami looked quite skittish, constantly alternating his glances between the castle and Usagi, who paid no heed to anyone, going towards her destination.

"And somebody is waiting for us there!" cried out Jounoochi. In front of the entrance stood a very tall brunette. He had very cold eyes, and power. Lots of it. Makoto shivered.

"Minako is not answering her communicator," hissed Luna suddenly, taking advantage of everyone's attention turned towards the newcomer, "We need to reawaken Usagi." Makoto nodded.

"Kaiba!" exclaimed Jounoochi.

"What the heck is he doing standing there?" asked Usagi incredulously.

"Let's go ask," offered Anzu. The group finally made it up, and the blond loudmouth pointed at Kaiba: "What's the big deal Kaiba! Didn't you go off to beat Pegasus and save your little brother?"

Luna and Makoto shared a glance. Save his little brother? This was strange? What had Usagi's brother had to do with it? But then again, Minako and Ami got definitely into some trouble over there.

"Save his little brother? What are you going on about?" Usagi glanced between Jounoochi and Kaiba, who looked a bit uncomfortable, as they looked away from her stare.

"Err, Usagi..." Makoto touched Usagi's shoulder. It would be good to use this distraction to give her memories back.

"What, Makoto?" snapped Usagi, removing her hand from the shoulder, "they are speaking about saving Kaiba's little brother! What has got this to do with my father?" shouted Usagi at the two youths who were still silent, as the brunette stranger regarded her with a guarded gaze. Makoto met his eyes and she knew: he could easily be a threat to Usagi. Because he disliked Usagi for some reason. She knew it. She felt his intent.

"Usagi, there is something urgent we must address. It is a matter of great importance," she pressed on.

"Well, this is more important," argued Usagi back heatedly.

"Usagi! Minako is in danger!" exclaimed Luna suddenly. Usagi looked between Yami and Luna obviously confused as to what to do. This rather annoyed Makoto. Why was Usagi looking towards the dark being? Did she need his approval or what? She didn't need to have his advice. Finally Yami nodded to Usagi.

"I'll be right back," Makoto quickly led Usagi down the stairs as Luna kept watch of the others. They scaled the stairs down once more, and when finally far enough for them not to hear or see anything they stopped. Usagi turned around her arms crossed as she watched them impatiently.

"So, where is Minako," she snapped, "You said she went after Hotaru. Is she also in danger?"

Luna sighed, before replying carefully, "And so is Ami, I presume, neither are answering their communicators."

Usagi blinked in confusion and then narrowed her eyes at Luna in suspicion, "Communicators? What are you going on about? And who are you anyways? You arrive here with my friend, nag at me and then tell me my friends are in danger!"

Luna stepped towards Usagi.

"I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. But this must be done," quickly apologized Makoto cringing as she saw the betrayed expression on Usagi, as in the middle of Luna's forehead a golden crescent appeared, and glowed, a stream of light connecting it to Usagi's forehead where a similar crescent appeared.

"What the..." Usagi's eyes widened, "no... no..." tears began to stream down her face, as Makoto turned away not wanting to see it, "I don't want to remember... no, not now," begged her princess, "Starlights, Kakyuu, Galaxia..." cried out Usagi in pain, "Nehelenia, the Dead Moon Circus," Makoto snuck a glance back at Usagi, who was crying, just as Luna was, "Death Busters, Hotaru-chan, Mistress 9, Chibi-Usa," she was sobbing now, and Makoto cursed herself once more that she couldn't have let her live a calm normal life any longer, "Prince Diamond, the Black Moon," murmured Usagi closing her eyes, "Beryl, Metallia... Endymion..." finally she whispered. The stream of light between Luna and Usagi died down and Usagi opened her eyes. They were cold.

* * *

Ever since she was small, she had been as much fascinated, as she had been afraid by those dreams of hers after which her dear father modelled her deck. Ever since she had been small she wished that it had been really memories of a past life, because it was so romantic but then again, she had been afraid of that past. Because she feared it would tie her down to some unknown destiny.

Back then she had known her destiny. But in this life. _She wasn't sure at all. _In this life everything was so different and they were all free. So why did they have to awaken? This Shadow Games weren't tied to them; they had no enemies from the Shadow Realm. Her eyes narrowed: what was the Shadow Realm and how did she know of that word? Her head ached as all the supressed memories came back to full power. Including the more recent ones: that time with Bakura and when Necrofear came after them. Her heart ached suddenly. _Yami… _She… she felt him. Why did she feel him?

"Usagi-chan, are you alright?" asked Luna. The golden-haired princess looked up at her advisor dimly wondering why Luna could hold this form for so long in this world.

"I guess I am..." she whispered and Makoto promptly embraced her: "We didn't want to awaken you, but the shadows are gathering," apologized the auburn haired girl, hugging her golden-haired friend close to her. Usagi stiffed, she felt slightly foreign, she felt as if she wasn't herself and then pushed her away. Her eyes narrowed in thought: "Do you remember," finally she spoke, "that time. That monster which attacked us," she froze as she suddenly remember how Dark Bakura called Hotaru his little bird, and how that monster Dark Necrofear called Hotaru 'her master's little bird', but Luna would have felt the same kind of magic on Yami and she needed him to explain a couple things to her, no it would be better if she talked about this with Yami one-on-one. She knew very well how Luna was towards the darkness.

"I wonder where Rei-chan is," sighed the blonde wistfully.

"Usagi-chan," began Luna, and she turned her tired eyes towards her advisor, "Minako and Ami went after Hotaru into your father's castle, but they haven't yet returned. And none of them is answering."

"Father's castle..." Usagi cast a glance upwards, her eyes widening a mere fraction, there it was, that small pulse of darkness, darkness unlike Yami's, no this positively reeked of Chaos, "Kaiba's little brother," she murmured a sudden thought crossing her mind, and then the crescent flared to life on her forehead as she examined the castle that seemed to hang above them. Yes, now she saw it. It wasn't just small, no it was large. It was gigantic. She closed her eyes concentrating on the feeling, to see the source and as the images flashed behind her eyes, she came to see the face of her father, that strange golden eye he once brought from Egypt glinting menacingly from the shadows beneath the hair covering it.

_Golden… Egypt… that Ring… it has a similar kind of power… and the Puzzle…_

"Impossible!" she cried out.

"What is it, Usagi-chan?" Luna asked.

She briefly recalled all the moments of meeting Yami and re-analysed them with her newly received memories. Yes Yami was a spirit living in that puzzle. It had to be all connected. Yami would know. Yes, she had to see him. Even more reassured in her previous decision to keep silent about Dark Bakura.

"Do you feel it? The taint of evil Chaos in that Shadow Magic" she said pointing towards the castle. Makoto and Luna glanced towards the dwelling of her father. The pulse of power had to be strong enough for them to remember.

"Shadow Magic? What is that?" asked Luna slightly pale.

"I don't know... but I feel as if I should remember it," whispered Usagi, and a sudden ache ripped its way through her head "Argh!" She fell to her knees, immediately Makoto and Luna at her side.

"Usagi-chan, is everything alright?" begged Makoto, as Usagi nodded her head through the pain.

"Yes, yes. But it is just like back then, when we didn't remember our past," spoke the newly reawakened princess, "I feel as if I should know it, but something is blocking my knowledge. But I do know someone who knows of the Shadow Magic. I must go back to Yami, now!" she spoke, struggling up. Immedaitely her two guardians stilled.

"Yami? Is that the dark being's name?" asked Luna darkly. Usagi sent her a glare, making the Mai-jin take a step back.

"Don't call him that," she whispered, "He is…" Usagi struggled to find a suitable word for her rival, "He is a friend." Luna stared at her in disbelief, while Makoto had an unreadable face. Finally she turned away.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" she asked.

"Yami protected me all this while. I know it," yes, Usagi remembered after that Shadow Game she had nightmares all night long, but throughout that night there was a presence near to her, which was comforting and warm, he was there, he protected her. Luna scoffed clearly disagreeing with her view, and Usagi looked towards the emerald-eyed Amazon. Finally the girl cracked an uneasy smile:

"Well, if you say so, Usagi-chan."

"You won't argue?" turned Usagi towards Luna. The Mau-jin crossed her arms displeased with her decision but nonetheless replied: "You are much more of a leader this time around."

Usagi smiled tiredly at her Senshi and advisor and pointed upwards, "Let's go. We can't waste time and we can't barge in head first into the castle if there's something shady going on there. First, we shall gather intelligence!"

_First I need to find Yami. This pain. I can't tell them of it. But I know, that this pain can be alleviated only by his presence._

As the two Senshi and the Mau-jin arrived at the top of the stairs there was no one there.

"Where are they?" Makoto looked around. Usagi seemed to be frozen on spot. She was glaring at a tower above them. Turning her glance upwards, Makoto saw that stranger and the dark being in a stand off, arguing about something.

"What are they doing up there?" asked the brunette.

"I have no idea! Why is Yami duelling Kaiba anyways? He already has enough star chips!" growled Usagi, pushing past the two females and dashing towards their duelling ground. Immediately on her return she was assaulted by the Yugi-tachi, as she endearingly called them.

"Usagi-chan, where were you?" "Kaiba challenged Yugi to a duel. They shall both wager five star chips."

"Why?" asked Usagi quietly.

"Because... well..." again they started stuttering as if there was something she shouldn't know. Her glare deepened, catching the Yugi-tachi slightly off-guard and challengingly she stared at Kaiba. Kaiba, he would tell her.

"Because your father kidnapped my little brother! And he's playing me like a game!" growled the young CEO and Usagi's clenched fists, something she hadn't noticed, fell. It was true.

"So it's true. It is him," she whispered as everyone stared at her.

"Usagi?" The pain in her chest, which started the moment her memories returned, died out just a little bit. It was Yami. He walked away from the upcoming duel to check on her. How annoying… a soft smile crossed her face, she didn't need a knight in shining armor.

_Liar…_

"I'm sorry, before you start duelling," Usagi turned to Kaiba, "Please let me speak to Yugi. I need to find out something. It is vital, then you may continue, It won't take long," she begged. Kaiba glared at her defiantly, his posture and eyes telling her that he definitely disliked her. But perhaps it was her dishevelled hair. The slumped stance. Those dead eyes. For some reason the CEO huffed turning away from her.

"Do as you wish. I hope you're not planning an escape, Yugi," he spoke coldly.

"Never in my life!" assured Yami.

"Then make it quick," spoke Kaiba and turned away, his eyes closed as if meditating.

"Luna, Makoto," Usagi addressed the two guardians who were still close to her, "please wait here. This is something I have to hear first myself."

"But..." started Luna.

"As your leader I order you to stay back!" snapped Usagi. Anzu and Ryou took a step back shocked by her outburst.

"Leader?" echoed the pretty brunette, glancing from Usagi to Luna and Makoto, who immediately looked down. In stiff strides Usagi walked away from the tower. His dark presence was close to her. Behind her, and it seemed as if his shadows were encircling her, drowning her anguish in the darkness, where she felt _peace._

"What is it, Usagi-chan?" asked Yami. He still thought she didn't see it all. He still didn't get it. And his voice _still _awoke _that _in her. Even as she remembered everything. A sudden pang of guilt was suffocated by his dark powers, as they stood in close proximity. Idly Usagi noted that they hadn't been so close to each other ever since that _tree incident _or when they though they would be crushed by a boulder.

"Cut back with the flirt, spirit!" she spoke impatiently.

"Oh, you're snappy today!" chuckled the spirit, but as she glared at him angrily.

"Tell me," she whispered, "what the hell is going on in my father's castle!" her voice was stuttering, "Why is it that it has such a dark presence and why is it so... so... evil," _why is it so much like Chaos,_ "What are the Shadow Games? What is the Shadow Magic?" her hands were clenched into fists, "How is Mokuba tied into this! How is my father tied into this?" She was shaking as she looked down at the ground straight in front of her.

"I don't think you should know..." he began, "it's kind of harsh." Her shaking firsts were covered by his larger hands and she ceased shaking.

"Listen, Yami," began Usagi, this time with much more resolution, "I know you saw me as Eternal Sailor Moon. I know you saw Sailor Saturn. And I know you know that Hotaru is Sailor Saturn and that I am her princess. My memories have reawakened, so speak. I am a guardian of this world. That is my mission."

The wind ruffled their hair, as her pigtails circled around him, she had never seen his eyes so up close. Or more like, she had never examined them so closely. They were like rubies, no… they weren't - they were like fresh blood, slanted and exotic. He was almost outlandish to her: the kohl eyeliner only underlined the exquisite nature that he possessed. Finally Yami smiled softly at her, kneeling on one knee in front of her, taking her hand into his hand: "Ah, I see. That is why your light is even brighter," a soft kiss was planted on the back of her hand.

"My light?" repeated Usagi: she didn't even mind his sudden action.

"Yes. That strange magic," he let go of her hand and immediately she missed the warmth, "I can touch you even in my spirit form for some reason. But, it is good that you've reawakened," questioningly the princess looked at Yami, "I had no idea how to hold you back from the castle, like I promised to Hotaru."

"You promised? Why?" she asked. And his power pulsed at her question.

"Because your father is behind this darkness," spoke Yami, "He stole my grandfather's soul. He kidnapped Mokuba, and I have a hunch that he stole his soul also. I have no idea what happened to Hotaru though."

She felt as if the ground would crash beneath her and she would into an abyss. Her father, it was true, why would he do it, she felt so faint, did she have to fight against him, why, why, why did she have to do it, but who else would save him from himself, but why, why would her dear father, who carried her on his back, always watched over her, played with her and chased away the nightmares, why would he do this. Why?

"Tell me more!" cried out Usagi, "The Shadow Magic, from where does it come? What are the Shadow Games? Who was that Dark Bakura?" she didn't even notice how the tears began to stream, she didn't even mind the sympathetic look upon Yami's face, she didn't even care when the spirit pulled her close, softly whispering to her.

"I don't know the answers to all questions. Let me finish this duel and I will answer all of your questions."

"Minako and Ami are stuck there," cried Usagi, the tears they rolled and rolled down her cheeks, she didn't mind, she was safe in his arms, she felt safe, she _knew _she was safe, screw what Luna would say about it, if she, _the ever-smiling icy daughter of Pegasus could cry here, _then he was a good person no matter what everyone else said, she looked up through tears at the spirit, "They went after Hotaru and never came back."

"Princess..." whispered a throaty voice behind them. The pair whirled around, there stood Hotaru dressed in her Sailor Senshi outfit, the skirt and fuku torn. She looked emptily at them and then fell towards the fuku disappearing in the flurry of violet ribbons.

"Hotaru!" cried out Usagi running towards her friend.

"Call, Luna and Makoto! Tell them that Hotaru is wounded!" shouted Usagi back to the King of Games. The ancient spirit nodded: "Take care of your friend. I shall make it quick and explain everything. I suppose you won't be running into the castle with a comrade down."

Usagi glared at him, as if for even daring to suggest such a thoughtless action.

"Make it quick," she gritted out, "I have to save them. And if father is under the influence of the darkness, I have to save him too!" she looked towards the entrance of the castle. Yami ran off and in a few moments Luna and Makoto sped down immediately bombarding her with questions. But Usagi ignored them.

"Quiet," finally the blonde snapped shutting up her friends, "I am healing her and can't concentrate!" With that the girl extended her hands back above Hotaru's still form, the energy of the Silver Moon Crystal guided from her body to Hotaru's battered one.

"Heal her?" parroted Luna in disbelief. Usagi nodded absently.

"Yes. I remember how to do it."

The three females stayed in silence, as Usagi poured the healing energy of the Silver Crystal into her friend, a thin sheen of sweat cowering her forehead,

"How long till she is healed?" asked Luna,

"An hour or so," replied Usagi.

"Will you be alright? You only just reawakened."

"Yes, I will be. I'm feeling much stronger than back then," Luna blinked at her response, as Makoto scratched the back of her head.

"So, it's not only us," noted the Jupiter Senshi. Usagi glanced at them, but wary of breaking the concentration decided to store away that question for a later time. Finally Usagi did all she could and they could only wait,

"So, what did you find out," asked Luna, as they sat near Hotaru's evenly breathing form, watching for any change.

"Not much, but my father is behind this darkness," replied Usagi. How could she be this way? She said this without any emotion… what was wrong with her? When did she become this way?

"Oh," whispered Makoto, "I'm sorry, Usagi-chan."

"Don't worry. We'll find a way. I know we will," quietly spoke Usagi, suddenly the black-haired Senshi stirred and opened her eyes.

"Usagi-chan, I'm sorry, I failed," she coughed out, and immediately Usagi was at her side. She had a horrible feeling about it.

"Take it easy. You're still weak," Luna scolded the black-haired girl.

"Why did you fail?" asked Usagi emotionlessly. No… no… perhaps this was why she couldn't feel the presence of Ami or Minako.

"I had to reawaken you the moment I knew your father had the taint of Chaos," whispered Hotaru, closing her eyes in shame, "but I wished for you to sleep," she struggled upwards ignoring Makoto's and Luna's attempts to make her rest more, "Let me up. I'm fine," snapped the Senshi of Silence.

"What happened? Where is Minako and Ami?" asked Usagi. Hotaru looked down.

"Your father stole their souls..."

Usagi jumped up and headed towards the tower where Seto and Yami were duelling. Yami promised. Yami promised to finish the duel early. She had to speak with him. He had to tell her how to free them. Her dear friends. Tears ewere threatening to come up again, but she bravely fought them down. She was Eternal Sailor Moon. She was Usagi S. Crawford. She wouldn't cry. Although repeating her name as a mantra came ironically bitter at the moment.

"Where are you going?" cried out Luna. But she didn't pay her any attention. They would understand. As she made it up, she saw Yugi, yes Yugi, not Yami, kneeling on the ground sobbing.

"Yugi! Are you okay, man!" shouted Jounoochi running towards the broken boy. Yami had lost. But where was he.

"If I had kept playing, Kaiba might have died!" cried out Yugi.

"You let Kaiba win?" cried out Jounoochi in disbelief.

"Yugi stopped his other self..." spoke Anzu, "because the battle was getting out of control..." the brunette trailed off looking down, seemingly in deep contemplation.

"I'm scared of this game and of the other me," cried out Yugi, and immediately Anzu was by his side.

"It's alright, you did the right thing, Yugi. So don't cry!"

Usagi winced. This was Yami. Of course, she knew. He cared about winning, because it mattered. Because he had to save grandpa.

"You showed weakness at the ed. I won! Caring about the enemy's safety is the most foolish thing a duellist can do," Kaiba mocked the crying boy. Indifferently Usagi looked at Kaiba, who seemed a bit startled by her emotionless gaze.

"Kaiba, this game isn't about murder, you jerk!" And Kaiba looked back at Jounoochi, immediately jumping to the chance to reply with scorn. Anzu also joined the argument.

Usagi walked up slowly to Yugi, kneeling in front of the boy, she begged: "Yugi, let me speak to Yami."

He had to. No matter what argument they had, she had to speak to Yami. She had to. He was the only one who could tell her what could be done.

"Usagi... I can't! I can't! I'm scared!" cried out Yugi in distress, "What if he's angry? What if he will just push me back and do it his way?" shouted the boy. Usagi winced once more. She was being heartless. But Yugi just didn't understand. She could feel the scorning gazes on her back. Kaiba had left this place, laughing at his success and they were all staring at her.

"I have to speak to Yami! This is important! Your grandpas, Minako's, Ami's, Mokuba's soul depend on it!" Usagi had to make him see reason. It was important.

"I'm sorry," gave up Yugi, closing his eyes, as Usagi punched the floor in front her startling Yugi.

"Leave him be, Usagi," said Jounoochi, "He needs to get it out of system. A duel will set him back straight."

"But there are no more duellists left," replied the blonde.

"How do you know?" asked Anzu and Usagi wordlessly pointed towards a boat leaving the Duellist Kingdom island.

"Usagi-chan, there is still me left." Everyone whipped around, where Hotaru was standing, a bit faltering in her stance, as she held up a duellist glove with two lines of star chips.

"A player killer! Hotaru is a player killer?" cried out Anzu.

"That's right," Hotaru started walking slowly towards Yugi, picking out from her glove five star chips, "You have protected Usagi, so take these star chips as a thank you token," she smiled at Yugi holding out them.

"I can't accept these star chips..." whispered the violet-eyed boy.

"What? Why?" exclaimed Jounoochi.

"When I was duelling Kaiba, I had an argument with the other me, in the end I lost," explained Yugi, his eyes firmly set on the ground before him, "I can no longer be so selfish. Even if I switched with the other me, I'm sure he wouldn't accept these star chips either. That's why." Immediately Jounoochi pushed past Usagi to shake the boy to his senses. Usagi stood up, glaring at the ground stepping away. Why? Why did he give up so easily? Didn't he see? There was Kaiba, Mokuba, Minako and Ami they had to save. And Selene knows, how many other people were imprisoned by her father.

"I don't know what really happened, but the other you has a strong sense of self-esteem and dignity," spoke up suddenly Hotaru, "However it is my failure that has brought this all upon us. Because I thought I could do it all alone. Please accept it," insisted the black haired girl. Usagi glanced at Yugi, her eyes begging him to accept the gift. But he turned away.

"I still can't!" he shouted.

"Stop kidding around! Is the most important thing your feelings?" blew up Jounoochi, "Stop caring about the other Yugi! What about your own will? Stop letting the other you affect you!" rambled on the blonde boy, "Think about it! What is the most important thing in the world?" Yugi froze.

"It's true that pride can sometimes become a burden," murmured Hotaru, "This is what it became to me. And I lost two of my friends," Yugi sharply glanced at her, "I'm sure you heard the conversation between Usagi and Yami. Two of our friends lost their souls. And it is all because they went after me, because I was too prideful when bearing my mission," she once more extended her hand, holding the precious five star chips, "So please, accept these star chips."

"Hotaru..." whispered Yugi.

"That time I spent with you guys, I really enjoyed it. So accept this also as a proof of my friendship," finally admitted Hotaru. Yugi contemplated for a minute and then smiled, "Alright, I accept these star chips!"

"Yohoo!" whooped Jounoochi, grabbing Yugi and twirling the smaller boy around.

"Okay. What is going on! Why do you guys know of the other Yugi?" deadpanned Anzu.

"Wait, you guys knew it all along?" exclaimed Usagi. But she was sure that they didn't notice the difference, because they always called him Yugi.

"Ah, long story. But, yes we do, though not always," replied Honda, "Though the question stands, how do you know."

"Noticed it from the first glance," offhandedly waved off the question Hotaru.

"How?" The Yug-tachi stared at them.

"All those who don't have star chips, should leave the island immediately," boomed a sinister voice behind them. The issue about 'the other Yugi' forgotten the group turned around, to see Sarutawari advancing on them menacingly.

"Sarutawari, we all have our star chips!" exclaimed Usagi raising Yugi's hand to demonstrate the ten star chips. The man cringed in distaste, after quickly glancing at Hotaru who smirked in glee.

"Then enter the castle!" barked the guard and walked to the entrance, where he resumed his stance.

"I think we all need to have a long talk in the castle," finally spoke Luna, "Just be careful," as everyone nodded, in silence they made their way down to the entrance.

Usagi tried hard to hold her composure. So much, so much was happening. Minako. Ami. Everyone. She had to… she had to be strong. But… but why was Yugi not letting her speak to Yami. She had to meet Yami once more. She hoped Yugi was not afraid of Yami… because she needed to speak to the spirit.

"Present your star chips!" snapped Sarutawari. Each duellist presented their star chips and went in, but as Anzu, Ryou, Honda, Luna and Makoto tried to follow them Sarutawari blocked their path.

"What's with these guys?" he growled.

"Ha, we're here to cheer them on!" laughed Anzu nervously, slightly cowering before the tall guard.

"No way! Absolutely not!" bellowed Sarutawari, causing Makoto to growl in anger, "Only duellists that made it to the finals can go into the castle."

"But!" began Anzu.

"That's the rule!"

"Sarutawari!" spoke Usagi. The guard jumped as he looked at the short blonde. Usagi was looking up at her, her eyes cold and dark. She had way too much on her plate right now, and she didn't need to deal with his stupidity also.

"Usagi-sama!" he exclaimed in fear. A smirk crossed Usagi's lips. Of course, always afraid of her.

"Let them in," she said.

"But..."

"Let them in," repeated Usagi threateningly, "You don't want to anger me right now."

The tall guard faltered, and then finally conceded to her demand, waving to the "cheerleader squad" he let them in. The moment they were in, Usagi was greeted by the grey-haired attendant of her father.

"Crockets-san. What is going on at the moment?" she asked.

"The duel between Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Crawford is starting," notified Crockets as he bowed in greeting to her. Usagi's head whipped towards the faraway hall where the duelling arena was situated. Yes, she felt it. That dark power so similar to Chaos, but different at the same time.

"Let's go. I have a bad feeling about it," she said dashing off towards the duelling arena.

"Do you feel this pressure?" asked Luna, matching Usagi's pace. The bright light blinded them for a moment and then they saw Kaiba defiantly standing on one side of the arena glaring at her father. And the princess's heart shattered.

She would have to fight her father. She could easily see the tendrils of power eating at his soul from that Sennen Eyes.

"It is something malevolent without a doubt," muttered Usagi, "What is this?"

"This is the beginning of a Shadow Game." The familiar comforting darkness suffocated her for a moment.

"Yami?" the spirit nodded to her.

"This place is becoming a tournament of shadows. Kaiba is in danger," spoke the spirit darkly. There was something different about him. Something strange.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Usagi.

"Do you want to reveal yourself to your father?" the red eyes stared into her soul. Usagi shook her head.

"No. But..." she began.

"I will go and rest for a while," before she could even interrupt the spirit went on, "I will speak to you all later. You shall tell me about the Sailor Senshi business and I shall tell you about what I know."

"Sailor Senshi?" Anzu asked. The brunette came up to them just at the end of their conversation.

"Later, Anzu-chan," whispered Usagi, "Later."

* * *

**End Chapter 4**

* * *

**Omake 1**

"What do you mean we have less than ten star chips for all of us?" bellowed Keith angrily. He planned to steal the star chips of his lackeys and kick them out from the island, but it seemed they had only six left. It was all because that little witch confused him and led him on! The American bandit growled angrily, as his cronies cowered from him.

Immediately, as if by magic, two security guards appeared: "Keith, we are here to escort you and your associates for being not only, disqualified, but also for harassing Usagi, sneaking illegally onto the tournament, insulting the daughter of Mr. Crawford and being an overall pest," one of them spoke robotically.

"How dare you, you freaking bastards!" Keith charged at them, only be thrown into the ground lack a sack of potatoes. Yes, potatoes. We will not be adding more curse words than Keith does.

"And Mr. Crawford passes on," spoke one of the guards pulling out a piece of paper, "_Ha-ha. My daughter beat you even quicker than I did. Ha-ha-ha_!" The humourless voice of the security guard only added more humor to the situation as Keith cursed and yelled as the two guards dragged him off, the nameless two idiots and Ghost Kotsuzuka wordlessly following their leader, embarrassed at his repulsive behaviour.

* * *

**_Teaser:_**

She fell to the floor groaning in pain, as the strange ache came back full force. Her body trembled. She needed to get near him. Only near him this strange sensation stopped affecting her. Near him she felt safe. Usagi clutched at her heart whimpering quietly as she struggled to stand up. She had to get to his room. She had to tell him. Biting back another scream as the pain tore through her again, she fell back to her knees. It was useless. She couldn't even stand up. What was happening to her? What was this strange pain?

The door suddenly opened, "Usagi?" it was his voice. The blonde Senshi raised her head, barely managing to call out his name. Immediately the dark spirit was kneeling next to her, asking about her well-being. Usagi whimpered once more, as another surge of pain coursed through her weak body. It was unbearable. Through the haze she noted that she was no longer on the floor, but rather cuddled to a warm-warm chest. The hurt started subsiding, as she dearly held onto his black shirt.

"There, there, little princess, everything will be alright, relax, don't let it take over you," whispered Yami softly into her ears, his voice gently carrying her over to Hypnos's reign as if on waves. Through blurry eyes Usagi saw only his red eyes gleaming in the darkness. Red like the blood. So enticing.

"Yami, please stay. Only near you, I don't feel this pain," she murmured slowly loosing consciousness. The warm body that held her startled in alarm, but then held her even closer, as numerous promises were gently whispered to her.

* * *

**_Chapter notes:_**

**_(1)_**_ – Bandit Keith really did call Yami a 'little goth' in the manga. I just have now the whole collection of 'Yu-gi-Oh!' manga and besides the anime-only arcs, I will be going strictly by the manga, thought sometimes switching the order of the events. Minor differences that were not mentioned here but which I shall: first, Yami is capable of trying to locate a person with his Sennen Puzzle. Actually that is how he found out where Jounoochi was in the manga. Second, Mai never duelled Anzu to get Yugi to take the star chips. In fact she just gave them to him and with some persuasion he took them. Third, Yami and Yugi won't have an issue about the fact that Yugi is scared of Yami, when duelling Mai in the final. That is actually all made up by the English dub. In the Japanese anime and manga Yami had a different issue._

**_(2)_**_ – Going by the ridiculous rules Duellist Kingdom has, when all kind of made up stuff can happen as long as it is logical_

**_(3)_**_ – In this case any monster bring-back magic card, which is tied to the presence of another monster on the field brings them up close. Any other summon as later on, brings them to the beginning._

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**_27/04/2011_**_ - Freakishly long, like I said. I spent more than fifteen hours slaving away at this. Not to mention I noticed the repetition of some words and went over the story once more. Will do so again before uploading it, even though my mind is bursting. This is what happens when I don't write for too long, I forget the usual verbs I use, like purring, sighing, agreeing, etc etc. But anyways, here you go. Usagi has now awakened and the group made it into Pegasus's castle. Yugi accepted the sta rchips just like in the manga he simply accepted them. I mean seriously, does anyone believe Anzu could beat Mai at duel monsters? I don't._

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**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the Duelist Kingdom.**

**So, motivate the author to continue this fairly difficult project.**

**Review please. **

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	6. 5: The History of a Sailor Senshi

_**05/05/2011** – So, spent the last two days in Finland being bored and typing out the continuation. This fic is at the moment top priority, and expect updates to it every other update. Meaning update some random story, then update Infinitas. That is necessary so that I can continue writing Originis at a quicker pace, without worrying about having to reveal too much. So please enjoy._

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Thank to all those who reviewed, alerted, favourited this story: **Sesshy's Mistress **(you're a darling, here you go, you'll enjoy this chapter, mwhahaha, Yami/Usagi goodyness coming up), **SailorVMoon1311815 **(Rei… mwhahahaha, Rei has the Tauk, because Rei is Isis, if you read Originis, you know it, so guess how Rei would find out), **wildflower1014 **(that shall we know only next chapter), **Alycee Lanet, angel313, Kochou-hime **(work takes up most of our time, but work is necessary, sadly, catch another update), **Krissy **(you're welcome), **MissKenniGurl672 **(well Usagi is much much stronger than Keith, Keith is a moron, a straightforwarded moron), **Anime Princess **(yea, the string of faith connects them through time and destiny), **Cosmic-lover **(hohoho, you'll love this one more)

* * *

_**Names (first name is highlighted):**_

_**Ryuji**__ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi__** Katsuya **__(Joey Wheeler)_

_**Shizuka**__ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

_**Anzu**__ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

_**Honda **__Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

_**Pegasus **__J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

_**Cyndia **__Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

_**Sugoroku **__Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

_The moment you, my dear princess arrived, I felt you immediately. The feeling of utter joy and happiness you always brought to my heart was only strengthened by the connection with the Sennen Eye. But you came with him and even though Yugi-boy never once told you about me, even after he found out who you were, never once shared with you what exactly I had done to get him here: you arrived here glaring at me with contempt in your eyes._

The duel was about to start and Pegasus looked up at the balcony where he expected to find Yugi and his crew, instead he not only found them, he also found one traitor Player Killer and his daughter. His eyes widened just a bit, as his Eye read through the surface thoughts of his beloved daughter who looked so much like Cyndia.

_And now you are here. You know what I have done. But you do not know why I did it. You only know their part of the story, never knowing mine. But if you would know for what I am doing this without a doubt you would be standing here beside me, at your rightful place, not next to him. Yet, you have turned away from me, and I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your thoughts. Your contempt is barely hidden and your light no longer is shared with me._

For a second Pegasus felt a deep grinding pain within his chest, as he realized the implications of those burning blue searching true his own golden ones.

'_He's not father anymore.' _That was the most repeated surface thought. _'I'll have to fight him… just like back then with Galaxia I had to fight the Sailor Senshi…' _Her eyes darkened as she stared at him. Their stare-down continued for a few more seconds until the silver-haired father of our heroine turned away from her. He couldn't bear to see his daughter corrupted by the hands of the one who was standing in-between him and the completeness of his family. He would make her see the light once he defeated Yugi-boy, because no matter how good she was, she wasn't going to win.

He flicked his hand and the guards brought in the soulless Mokuba-boy. He could feel her anger even from here. But she would see the light, once she met her mother. They would be a happy family once more. He would make sure of that.

* * *

_Father, why do you do this, I can see your heart, it is not completely tainted by Chaos, yet you still continue on this path… Why did this happen? Why didn't I notice it earlier? That boy, he is so young, whatever did he do to you? He is only a mere child, who should be happily together with his brother. Yet here he is, in chains, a mere soulless doll. And to top it all off, you threatened Hotaru, whom you know to be childhood friend the friend from __**that **__childhood when you were frantically searching around the world for something, when I was just a toddler, left alone in our big and empty house with caretakers. They were kind and warm, but I still missed you. I never knew mom and you were my only family. Yet, you still left me alone._

_Was I just so delighted at you having finally returned home from your travels around the world that I never noticed __**that **__change? Beneath that goody, smiling exterior you hid your darkest secrets, and it was me who should've saved you from that. Yet I chose to frolic and laugh, ignoring the truth that was before me. That time… when we died… I defeated Chaos scattering it to where it belongs, the hearts of all beings, but… did I do the right thing._

_And this Eye. There's something eerily familiar about it and I can't put my finger on it. The presence, it is Chaos, but at the same time not. As if, it is a smaller being, a branch from him. Yet… I know certainly this is not one of the enemies I know I faced before. So what is it? Will it be banished only by taking my father's body with it? Or will I be able to free father from his curse. Because…_

_I am Sailor Moon. I have to fight you, forgive me. But you have wronged too many people. And I am a warrior of love and justice. So I shall fight you, I shall defeat you. For it is only my burden to carry._

_In the end as I watched you steal the soul of Seto Kaiba and seal it into that card, and watched a treacherous wine of hatred that Chaos was using to influence you through that Sennen Item I only could helplessly watch, only being even more reassured that I would have to end your path._

_Because I am Sailor Moon. But why does it hurt so much…_

* * *

As the guards removed the unmoving bodies of Kaiba and Mokuba, the puzzle flared also to life. The Eye of Horus burned brightly on Yami's forehead, as those crimson eyes opened to reveal pure unadulterated anger.

"Pegasus, I won't forgive you for this," shouted out Yami, as Usagi could only stand by and watch the dark smirk contort her father's face. This was not her beloved papa, her daddy, who always brought her gifts, and even as he was distant during the childhood she remembered, she still loved him.

"I promise I'll defeat you," he said with a final tone to his voice glaring at her father. No, that was not father - she had to keep reminding herself. Her father would never do such things. But what would defeating him do. How would it help him? Perhaps it would help the ones whose souls he caught, but… No, she had to keep on strong, even the slightest show of fear, and she would be swallowed by the darkness. Minako and Ami were depending on her.

"Oh, Yugi-boy, I'm so glad you care. But you won't earn the right to fight me, unless you win the tournament," chided her father with that ever-present grin on his face. But he acted so natural, just like he always did. Yet her Sailor Senshi eyes wouldn't let her be deceived.

"That won't be necessary, father. As your daughter I'll have to atone for your sins, I shall be the one to defeat you. I shall be the one to defeat you. I won't be satisfied until I will banish that darkness," beside her Yami twitched, surprised at her declaration.

Yet, the anger-filled golden eyes of her father didn't stay long on her, they switched back to Yami. "Now look what you did, Yugi-boy, you turned my lovely Serenity against me," the blonde Sailor Senshi twitched, it was just a fragment of Chaos, it was using father against her "and you filled her mind with nonsense about the Sailor Senshi. And you even made her cry," mocked the silver-haired man. Usagi froze, as she touched her cheeks, which were wet. Sometimes during the whole ordeal her father put Kaiba through she had started crying. She never even noticed that. The dark one beside her tensed.

"Duelists, to enter the finals with Pegasus you will need the special cards you received with your original invitation. Even if you are the winner, those without cards will be disqualified. Is that clear?"

At the announcement, everyone shuffled through their pockets, as Jounoochi slightly winced. Usagi's eyes softened, he was not an official duelist here: that much she knew. So he was without those cards. Well, she had no need for the The Honor of King's Right. The card with the treasure upon it. Jounoochi could have it.

Her father glanced at her once more and she felt again that strange pressure which she felt in the beginning of his and Kaiba's duel… could it be? That trick which he used was maybe no trick at all? Could he really read minds?

'_Damn it, this makes things even worse. Even if I beat Yami, who already knows a few tricks up my sleeve, I still have to face him. Just him knowing what my cards do exactly and what combinations I use will be a pain in the ass, but if he really can read minds…'_

A grin made its way onto her father's face as he saluted them. "Well then, my fair duelists. I'll see you tomorrow back here!"

And he left. He didn't even offer any word of explanation to her. Nothing. Nothing. This was not her father. She could feel her tears starting to swell up again, but she wouldn't cry. She cried enough in her previous life. In this life she wasn't crybaby Usagi. She wasn't going to disappoint anyone. No, she would protect the world like a true Senshi this time around. She wouldn't fail like back then… which sent them all reborn towards this place…

But then… she wouldn't have met _him… _Her eyes glanced towards the crimson eyed spirit, and suddenly the girl flushed in shame. How could she be thinking like that when her father was sealing souls of people? How could she be even thinking of him when her two best friends were sealed? She definitely had to get him out of her mind…

"I wonder who is the third finalist," wondered Anzu as she looked around.

"That would be me," came a voice from behind them, as everyone startled and turned around.

"Mai!" exclaimed Jounoochi and Anzu, gaping at the blonde-haired woman.

"Congratulations. You made it," said Usagi courteously, not expecting Hotaru to say anything as the violet-eyed girl didn't even turn to her sister pointedly ignoring the blonde. Mai smiled in return her eyes switching over for a second over to Luna and Makoto, who blankly stared past her.

Her lips twitched, as if slightly amused.

"Excuse me," once more the startled guest of Pegasus castle turned around, this time it was Mr. Crockets. "If you could all follow me, a dinner party has been arranged," spoke the steward of the Crawford house, "Please step this way." The group followed him immediately, leaded by Jounoochi who was cheering about being starved. A crooked smile made its way to Usagi's face. Once, a long time ago, she had also been this way. But she couldn't allow herself that now.

The twin oak doors opened, to reveal a fancy dining room, a room, which Usagi was very used to. It was the room she and her father often ate at, speaking about their days, where he used to tell her the stories about her mother, whom she never knew. Her eyes drifted up, towards the two portraits above the entrance. One of a man whom she never met, but of whom father spoke highly, and the other her mother. She had the same golden hair and blue eyes as she did, but her face was much softer and… human looking. Usagi scoffed at the sudden thought. Once more, her past life seemed to want to take over. Well, not in this life. She was Usagi Serenity Crawford. She may have been Princess Serenity. She may have been Usagi Tsukino. But she was not a pacifist like Serenity, nor was she that soft as Usagi Tsukino. But in the end… she really was just herself.

"What wrong Yugi?" suddenly asked Anzu, as Yami beside her froze as he turned around staring at the other portrait, at that man. The second the brunette had her eyes on that portrait she also froze, as did Honda and Jounoochi.

"Shadi!" breathed out Yami.

"You know him?" asked Usagi frowning, as she followed his glance. Her gaze landed on the item which hung around Shadi's neck. A shimmering golden Ankh with the same darkest black shadows as the shadows of the puzzle. Could it be?

"Yugi, why would Shadi's portrait be here?" exclaimed Jounoochi in shock. It seemed the whole group, except Bakura knew that man.

"Who is he?" asked Hotaru, her gaze also glued upon the golden item.

"He also has a Sennen Item," replied Yami, as his gaze darkened, "The cross around his neck. That is the Sennen Ankh. It has the special power to go into a person's heart and control it."

"Remembering now, that event sure made a big impression. I was almost killed by that guy," scoffed Anzu placing her hands on her hips. The three Sailor Senshi and the Mau-jin shared an uneasy glance.

"He even knew the secret about Yugi's Sennen Puzzle," noted Jounoochi, his gaze shifted to Bakura, "Hey doesn't your ring have the same disgusting power?"

"The Sennen Ring, don't worry about it anymore. I won't be controlled by it," quickly assured Bakura. Luna hissed something, earning a glare from Usagi. Really, the Mau-jin had to know better. After all, Saturn was also a power dark and dangerous, but Hotaru got over it and wielded it better than any other.

"This island holds the secret of the Sennen Items, doesn't it?" asked Bakura, "And Pegasus knows this secret."

"Ah, everyone, look the woman in the portrait beside Shadi. So beautiful, who is she?" pointed Anzu. Usagi tensed, as did Hotaru beside her.

"That is…" Usagi faltered, "my mother," she replied.

"Will we meet her too?" asked Anzu.

Usagi shook her head. "We won't."

"Perhaps he is also keeping her away from this whole event, just as he tried to keep you?" offered Yami. Usagi's gaze lowered to the ground.

"Mother died shortly after I was born."

Behind her Luna shifted uncomfortably as everyone stood dumbfounded. Daring to glance up, Usagi met the sympathetic gazes of the people she met here. But… she didn't need their pity.

"Everyone, stop gazing at the paintings. The dinner is almost cold." Saved by the bell. Crockets without a doubt overheard their conversation and didn't like it where it was going.

"Sit down guys!" yelled Mai, "I'm waiting for you to eat."

"Contestants of the finals, please sit on this side. Other guests sit over here," spoke Crockets moving out a chair in front of Usagi. The blonde girl stiffly nodded, as she sat down, still trying to ingnore the worried glances Luna, Makoto, Hotaru, Yami and Anzu sent to her. She was not pitiful. She didn't even remember mother. Besides she had two lifetimes of wonderful parents, and she shouldn't be so greedy. And father was also not bad. She just had to believe it. She just had to believe that he could still be saved.

She glanced to the left: Mai, Jounoochi and Yami. She was absolutely certain she could beat Mai and Jounoochi. But Yami… she wasn't that sure, and if she managed to lose, what would he do to defeat her father? Was that even possible for him? But if he defeated him, what would it matter, if her father needed healing?

"This is the night before the finals, enjoy it, Usagi," said Mai, as she dove with her spoon into the soup. Usagi nodded. The other blonde was right. She had time to relax before tomorrow. It wouldn't do good to worry now. She looked down into her soup and suddenly an eye floated up.

"What is this?" screamed the girl, glaring at her soup, as Mai spluttered having already put the eye into her mouth. The violet-eyed blonde spit it out. "This soup is sickening!"

Suddenly a screen at the end of the room turned on. Laughing ensued from the person on the screen – her father.

"Just a little joke! I hope you don't mind! How is it?" drawled her father in an amused voice, "How do you like this soup I made especially for you?" Usagi sweat-dropped. Was he really being controlled by Chaos or was he just crazy?

Jounoochi grabbed the golden eye, which was a replica of her father's Sennen Relic and thrust it out. "Pegasus! You actually put this into the soup!"

"Oh, that's the main course tonight!" Usagi sighed as her father once more broke out in laughter. "It's called the semi-finals surprise pairing game!" As everyone blinked in confusion, the silver-haired man continued: "Every finalist should have a Sennen Eye replica. Now please open the shell!"

Quiet pops came as everyone opened their eyes.

"The slip has D written on it," spoke Jounoochi.

"I have C," said Usagi.

"B." Mai, she glanced over at Yami, "I'm facing Yugi in the first round." The blonde grinned.

Usagi glanced at Jounoochi and said, "Good luck, Jounoochi-kun," as the sandy-haired blond nervously grinned at her. No wonder. He had seen her decimate Bandit Keith and he had seen her duel against the Meikyu brothers with Yami. But then, Jounoochi-kun smirked, flashed a thumbs-up to Usagi and spoke: "I'll give you a good run for those starchips you lent to me. I still owe you that!"

"Mai Kujaku vs. Yugi Mutou. Usagi S. Crawford vs. Katsuya Jounoochi. This is the result of the semi-final pairings. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow battles!" exclaimed her father and the screen switched off, reverting back to the static image of a painting.

* * *

Usagi was in the middle of undressing out of the light-blue baby-doll dress she had worn for two days when a tentative knock came to her door.

"Usagi-chan, may we come in?" It was Luna.

"Yes, yes, do come in," the blonde girl quickly dove behind the byobu _(1), _just as her two Sailor Senshi and the Mai-jin advisor came in. "Just a second, I'll make myself presentable," spoke up the blonde rabbit, as she slipped into her second set of clothes. A few seconds later the girl emerged, idly noting the critical stare Luna gave to her.

"You have an interesting choice of clothes," said the Mau-jin. Usagi raised an eyebrow, as if challenging Luna to continue her train of thoughts, yet the woman didn't say anything about it anymore. A small smile was shared between Usagi and Hotaru. Obviously a light-blue baby-doll dress with lace was well within Usagi Tsukino's dressing habits. But _this _was not. Luna would just have to get used to Usagi S. Crawford.

"Your room sure looks different from ours," noted Makoto as she gazed around, "And in a different wing also, are you sure it's safe?"

Usagi nodded warily, "So, what is it? I thought we were supposed to meet here in half an hour with the other guys and then talk? I kind of wanted to rest a bit," she said.

Luna glared at her. "Usagi-chan, this is exactly what I came to talk about. What are you thinking? How do you plan on to explain that we can see and feel energies? And why are you even collaborating with those dark ones…" As Luna's rant continued Usagi idly noted the slightly hurt look on Hotaru's face. The blonde's steely eyes turned towards the Mau-jin, as she held up your hand. "… I thought you were ore responsible but obviously I was wrong!" The woman paused, as she noted the dark look upon Usagi's face: the girl was glaring at the purple-haired woman as if daring her to continue and then went over to an armchair. She sat down, motioning the three guests in her room to sit down as well.

Reluctantly the trio sat down on the other armchairs, as Usagi sat there, her legs crossed, elbows leaning onto the armrests, fingers touching together as she observed them.

"First of all, Luna. It is my decision as the Moon Princess to tell them or not to tell about the Sailor Senshi business," spoke Usagi, and as Luna opened her mouth once more to interrupt, she snapped her hand forwards, releasing a minimal pulse of magic, rendering Luna unable to talk for the while, "Besides, they have already seen Eternal Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn. They have seen us transform. It may have not been as real as it could have been, but after the Sailor Senshi sightings begin, don't you think they will have questions?" The blonde pointedly ignored the surprised glances from Makoto and Hotaru, who stared at Luna moving her mouth but no sound came out.

"As for that darkness bit. Well, Sailor Saturn is also of darkness. Last time we failed because of that, because we didn't try to see that the light will always be attracted to darkness and vice versa. I'd rather have Yami circling somewhere near, and not Wiseman or someone of that caliber. Darkness doesn't mean necessarily evil. You should know it, Luna."

"Since when you could use your magic like that?" asked Hotaru. Usagi blinked.

"I don't really know. It came natural."

"Do you think the memories of the Silver Millennium are returning?" inquired Makoto. Usagi frowned: perhaps her auburn-haired friend had a point to her suggestion.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But have you noticed. In this reincarnation we're immediately at our Eternal level if not higher. In fact, I feel much stronger that Eternal Sailor Moon," said Usagi. Makoto nodded as she hesitantly raised her hands demonstrating the lightning, which coursed through them.

"I can use some of my powers without transforming. And every once in a while I remember random spells to use in daily life."

"Same here, I feel stronger, faster, more powerful this time around. Last time it felt in the start of our Sailor career as if our Senshi powers were uncontrollable and newborn, but here, they feel complete," said Hotaru.

Luna stood up, as Usagi finally gave her attention, swishing her hand, "Finally, I was beginning to think you would never let me speak," growled the Mau-jin, displeased at the behavior of her princess.

"Well it would do well not to insult my friends, no matter who they are," snapped Usagi. Luna looked slightly taken aback.

"Well, anyways, I wanted to mention to you, that this is not only an effect on you. Artemis and I are able to hold our human forms almost infinitely now. You've also seen me knock down those boys. It is no longer hard to keep up the same level of energy output as before," said the Mau-jin.

Usagi nodded thoughtfully. Her glance shifted to the clock. There were fifteen minutes more before the Yugi-tachi would come.

"So who is Yami anyways?" asked Makoto.

The blonde girl shrugged. "I have no idea. Do not really care also. I trust him. That's all that matters."

"Usagi! How can you be so irresponsible?" snapped Luna angrily.

"Luna! Need I remind you that I didn't ask for your advisement." Steely blue eyes met the garnet ones and for a second the Lunarian and the Mau-jin measured each other. Luna was the one to give up.

"Fine! Do what you want. Just don't whine later to me if this turns out bad."

Makoto and Hotaru sighed in exasperation. This power-struggle would surely continue until Luna would finally accept that this Usagi wasn't a pushover, nor was this Usagi really irresponsible.

"You are different from the Usagi I knew," spoke the purple-haired woman with a tinge of dislike in her voice. Usagi watched her for a while and then began slowly speaking, weighing each of her words carefully.

"That was Usagi Tsukino. I am Usagi S. Crawford. My mother had died when I was just a child. I do not remember her at all. My father was absent from my life most of my childhood, always travelling around the world in his grief for my mother's departure. And even when he is here, when he tells me stories of her, he still never quite sees me." The blue eyes lowered to the floor before her. "He sees her. And that is why I studied in London, far away from him in a boarding school, seeing father only during summer or social events. In this life I am the heir of Industrial Illusions and someday I will take up father's business, so as you understand I was groomed to do that."

Makoto cast a half-hearted glare to Luna for bringing this issue up. The advisor was standing there as if rooted to the spot.

"And now, I awaken only to find out that my father has a relic which has the taint of Chaos in it. That he has stolen the souls of Yugi's grandpa, Mokuba, Kaiba, Minako-chan, Ami-chan… and who knows how many more. Luna, if you wish to still be my advisor in this life you have to first accept the 'me' of this world. I may act silly and goofy, but I could never allow that here. Because I was always under the public eye as my father's heir: even the slightest misstep would have been damaging to his reputation. I'm not that forgiving. I'm not that crybaby. I'm not Usagi Tsukino. I'm not Princess Serenity. I am Usagi Serenity Crawford."

Her eyes lifted from the floor she was intently watching before. Her gaze was steely and strong: "And I will not allow any challenges of my authority. It would do well to remember that I am the Moon Princess and you are my advisor," then her voice softened, "But I still value you, Luna. You are one of my important people."

Whatever Luna may have wanted to say about it, they didn't find out, as the door opened and the Yugi-tachi finally made it here.

* * *

Anzu looked around the room in awe. So this was what a princess's life was like. Perhaps once she was a famous dancer she would have such an awesome room also. First of all it was large. It was at least four times as big as the rooms Pegasus provided to them, if not six times as big. The room had large windows almost from the floor to the ceiling, soft looking blue cashmere curtains were moving in tact with the gentle night breeze coming from her opened windows. An elegant golden-blue byobu was standing by her wardrobe, which was in actuality a golden-blue sendai-dansu _(2)_. Two alcoves were in the opposite walls to the side of the entrance, traditional tokonamas _(3), _with a hanging scroll depicting the myth of Kaguya-hime and an ikebana inside each of them. In one of the room corners a large four-post bed on a pedestal was placed, the sheer silk curtains around it glinting with silver and blue. The center of the room was used as the lounge apparently. Caned rosewood settees _(4)_ painted with blue dragons were paired with soft fauteuils _(5)_ with oriental patterns printed on them. A wide round black oak coffee-table was in the midst of them all. And there was Usagi, sitting in one of the fauteuils.

"Welcome, does anyone want perhaps some tea or coffee? I can arrange it," she courteously spoke, standing up, her smile soft and polite. This was a different Usagi from the one she met on the duelist island. As no one of them answered her, Usagi softly moved forward, dignified and refined, just like a princess, urging them to join her and her friends. This Usagi wasn't loud, cheerful. The only thing out of place with her princess like behavior was her outfit.

While her hairdo was still made up in the same weird way the blonde girl wore it, black-pearls and black ribbons were twisted through the buns, as black pearl clips held her bangs in place.

Designer jeans of black color graced her legs, form fitting but very punkish. There were zipper all over them, as well as rips combined with patches of bands, whose names Anzu never heard before. Her shirt was a chiffon gray multi-layered halter top tied behind her with ribbons, that left her back open. Her feet were adorned with very cute black gladiator sandals.

"So what about tea?" asked Usagi. Anzu blinked out of her stupor, somewhere along the line of gaping around, she had forgotten herself, idiotically standing at the entrance as everyone moved to the seating area. Those wide blue eyes on the heart-shaped face blinked at her curiously.

"It's okay. I don't need anything," replied quickly Anzu, flushed. She had so easily forgotten the reason she was here overwhelmed by the presence of this room.

"So, I guess we should go straight to business then," said Usagi going back to her armchair. "I think everyone needs to be present here. Including you, Yugi. Meaning, you cannot switch with Yami like you usually do."

"But, no one except me or Bakura or Hotaru can see the spirit," glanced Yugi to the left.

"I see him also, as do Luna or Makoto I suppose," said Usagi. The two persons mentioned nodded. "But I think I have a solution. Yugi, may I touch your Sennen Puzzle. It will last only a while, but it will make Yami solid for a while and visible," said the blonde. Hesitantly Yugi glanced aside and finally after some consideration Anzu's friend nodded. He reached out the puzzle, and as Usagi reached out towards it, her eyes closed, the crescent appeared on her forehead, glowing dimly, as the girl whispered in a long forgotten language, her magic sipping into the puzzle as it was transferred to the soul residing within it. And much to the shock of the Yugi-tachi minus Bakura, the other Yugi started to materialize on the left side of the Yugi. Apparently that was where Yugi glanced earlier. But Anzu always thought that the other Yugi was just another side of Yugi. But here he was, absolutely separate from her childhood friend. Which meant that he was… He wasn't Yugi.

"Dude, that's awesome, how did you do that!" exclaimed Jounoochi.

"That will be addressed later," said Usagi, as she retracted her hand glancing over nervously at the other Yugi. "I'm sure you all have never seen him in such a situation separate from Yugi, besides that Shadow Game with the other spirit. But this is the soul that resides within the puzzle, Yami."

"Yami?" repeated Anzu as she stared the one whom she called 'the other Yugi' unsure of what really went on. Suddenly the words registered. Another Soul.

"The other Yugi is a separate soul?" exclaimed Honda. The boy teetered from the shock.

"Yes, they are completely separate. It is no wonder you barely could make out the difference between them, as when Yami takes over Yugi's body, although the appearance undergoes the changes, a field of magic distorts the comprehension of other people," said Hotaru.

"We are a bit different from you. That is why we were easily able to see through the field of magic, even when I still hadn't regained my memories," said Usagi. At her words Yami twitched suddenly.

"What do you mean memories?" asked Anzu.

Usagi sighed and towards the purple-haired woman in the room, Luna. "Luna, could you please perform a special Luna Mind Meld. Please stay out of our private lives and unnecessary details, but give them all an overview of our life."

The woman froze for a second and then reluctantly nodded.

"You will experience a slight disorientation," Luna said, the crescent began to blow and their exterior changed to complete black. In shock, a yelp came from Jounoochi and Honda, as they looked around. Anzu blinked repeatedly at the sudden darkness and tiny white dots began to appear in space. The dots were forming galaxies and star constellation.

"This is space!" exclaimed Jounoochi.

"_Yes, this is a time of space-travel and colonization for the Sylvan Empire, as it was known before arriving to this Solar System,"_ said Luna, her eyes glazed over, as she observed the space. Her voice seemed distant, and even Usagi was frozen over by the sudden behavior.

The stars sped past them and the group was floating now over the Solar System, watching as the gigantic sun dominated and gave light to the Star System.

"_Long after the old civilization that once prospered in this Solar System, on Gaea, the planet you now know as Gaea, had seen its rise and fall, having receded a whole period of civilization, into this world arrived a civilization far more advanced that the Gaians of the distant past. Those were our ancestors. The most reveled queen of the Sylvan Empire, Queen Anunit had been long since travelling in search for a Star System to make her new home after our race's previous home was demolished in a collision of our galaxy with another one."_

"You have are aliens?" exclaimed Honda in shock.

"Quiet. I've never heard this part of the story either," snapped Usagi.

"_In this Star System she found uninhabited by civilization planets, which called out to her friends, her closest advisors, the ancestors of the current Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Pluto. And the tiny satellite of Gaea, the third planet to the sun called out to her. It is said that when she first arrived there, a voice spoke out to her, telling her, this will be now the place were all her descendants shall live, because this would be the Star System where the Legendary Sailor Senshi would be once more reborn while living for the first time,"_ continued Luna, never even paying heed to them.

The planets were quickly approaching them, and first it was a distant cold barren planet, which was orbited by a castle, and several other smaller palace-cities.

"_Pluto was taken over by Ananke, the time-space witch in the court of Queen Anunit. She was crowned Queen Ananke of Pluto."_

The scenery changed once more and they were quickly approaching the blue-giant Neptune. As they lowered into the upper levels of the atmosphere, quickly going lower and lower, going own, past the azure layers of gas, as they got to the lowest point, a large whale-size seadevil like creature floated slowly past them, causing Anzu to gasp.

"Was that a giant fish?" gasped Honda.

"_In the times before the catastrophe that ended the descendant of the Sylvan Empire, the Silver Alliance life was flourishing on most planets. Though unsuitable for most Sylvans, Neptune had ammonia-based life forms that could withstand the extremely cold temperature of Neptune's atmosphere, and effortlessly 'swam' through its atmosphere. And at deeper level of Neptune where it was warmer the floating castle of the Sylvans who eventually became the ancestors of Neptunians were situated."_

And through the mist of the thick silvery atmosphere on the stratosphere level a giant castle approached them. _"The Sylvans adapted quickly to each planet, as the planets were almost conscious and as if waiting for them. The magic awoke the first Planet Guardians and eventually the first Sailor Senshi's were awoken a few year-hundreds later after the people who inhabited the planets were thoroughly soaked in the planets magic. This magic allowed them to develop some interesting abilities. Like high resistance to strong-gravity. Stronger bones, stronger bodies. The Sailor Senshi even developed a talent that was used by the Ancient Sailor Senshi of the past, called Space Running. Neptune had chosen Amphitrite, the Muse of Arts and an expert water magician of the court of Queen Anunit. Thus she was crowned Queen and her mothership-castle became home to the long-lasting line of Neptune Royal Line. The Sylvans of Neptune developed high resistance to cold, ability to breathe underwater. While the Sylvans of Pluto developed precognitive abilities and were very resilient to aging, even more so than the regular Sylvans."_

Now they were quickly approaching Uranus, the nearly featureless light aqua disc glowed as if it were a pearl. They passed many floating castles on the side of the planet which was in light and then dove deep into the planet's dark side, where wondrous creatures akin to transparent mantises, thin yet sturdy soared through the atmosphere, but they dove even further to a vast, endless ocean, where a single great city-castle floated on top of it, the electricity from the planet encircling the dome which protected the habitants.

"_Uranus, the seventh planet from sun, where winds are able to reach 900 kilometers per hour. Shutu, the Air Guardian of Anunit's court, who always decimated the enemies with massive storms, was called on by this planet. And while the most of Uranusian colonies floated in the troposphere, circling the planet almost in space, straying only to the light side of the planet, Shutu's castle was situated deep on top of its mantel, which was a water-ammonia ocean, constantly shaken by the processes within its planet. And so they same to be known as the Earth-shakers also."_

And once more they soared up and quickly sped towards the brown giant with rings around it. Saturn. They dove into the atmosphere where the heavy breath of death was almost upon them. In that desolate place a single great black castle was situated.

"_Saturn was one of the most scarcely populated planets. There was no life on it. And it powers were too dark and too destructive. But even this dark planet chose a ruler. Ninurta, the Necromancer of the Sylvan Court was chosen as its first queen, and she had landed her castle deep the planet's atmosphere, near its surface. The Sylvans who were later referred as Cronian people were those who lived on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn."_

They soared to the golden moon of Saturn, it wasn't filled with lush forests of the Earth, the oceans were cold and stormy and strange black-insect like creatures roamed the dark-brown surface, roaring up into the golden sky.

"_That planet back then was almost like Earth, only much more barren and cold. These Sylvans developed healing power, which equaled their destructive powers. On Titan strange silicone-based life forms existed before, they were very malicious in nature and carnivorous. By the time of the Silver Alliance of our era most of these creatures have been eradicated, although many more exist in the deep space, as often ambassadors from other worlds took some of them despite the warning back home. Many worlds were destroyed by these creatures."_

They soared once more up and towards the multi-colored Jupiter. Yet this Jupiter was unlike the Jupiter of their present time. In the atmosphere they were literally floating continents filled with lush rainforests, where storms of proportions unseen on Earth raged.

"_Jupiter was the planet most different from its current state. Not only in the deeper levels of atmosphere bizarre creatures the size of blue whales existed, but also held up by the bizarre gravity of the planet continents floated in the sky. Some said they were formed by another planet crashing into the Jupiter, a planet which also was once a planet with a Sailor Senshi. The magic mixed and thus Jupiter became also the guardian of nature. On these continents lived the largest nation of the Sylvans. War General Marduk was the first king who was chosen to conquer the planet. Unlike most other Sylvans on gas-giants who lived in domes, the Jovian people could live in the freedom of their rainforests, where they rebuilt their civilization. Thus they were the wildest of the Silver Alliance. Most of them were in the Sylvan Army."_

Passing over the rainforests they saw marvelous emerald and gold buildings looming through the trees, as if built together with their growth. Finally they sped away from the intricate planet, speeding towards a red star, which grew and grew in size, becoming finally Mars.

"_This is Planet Mars. Back then it had almost lost most of its atmosphere, although being very similar to Earth. The active Sylvans, most of who made up the second half of the Sylvan Army, quickly built up protective totems around the planet which created an additional magnetosphere and with combined efforts cast a spell to regenerate the atmosphere of the planet. All that was left was to heat it up. Morrigan, the Crow Prophetess was chosen by the planet, and that is where she found the magic of the planet, which was bathed in the purifying fire. With her added effort, Mars was soon habitable once more. The ice caps melted and created Oasis's all over the planet, where the people lived. Her castle was not one, but two, situated on the satellites of Mars, which she named Phobos and Deimos, after her two loyal apprentices. That line of apprentices was not lost, as always twins were born from the line, and the twins were chosen to serve the next queen."_

The soared over Mars: it looked almost like Egypt, littered with many Oasis's, but the atmosphere was red as were the sands, and through the reflection of the atmosphere the seas and water were purple. Finally after doing a ring on the first terrestrial plant they encountered, they sped away towards their next destination, Venus. The golden planet rotated in its proximity to the sun, the golden sulfuric clouds lazily foaming like the sea.

"_The fiery star of Venus chose Inanna, the Metal Goddess of Anunit's court, and granted her power over empathy, gold and love. And so those golden-haired Sylvans, who were of the same ancestry as the Metal Goddess fixed their dome in the topper atmosphere of Venus, using their magic to lower the temperature of Venus to reasonable degrees. Later the Venusians evolved further, the magic of their fiery new mother-planet making them less susceptible to poisons, acid and potions. They could even survive for hours in the sulfuric atmosphere of Venus, while on the surface of Venus strange new life forms based on ammonia began to exist. Rains began to coat it surface."_

They dove into the humid atmosphere, coming to see lush rainforests, similar to Jupiter, but inhabited by things too unreal. Even the plants were a bizarre gray color, with unearthly hues of neon-blue and neon-yellow flowers. Above them lazily floated several cities. Everyone observed silently all the images. Never daring to speak. It seemed too unreal: so beautiful, so humbling. Once more they soared up, towards the planet closest to the Sun, Mercury. On its surface the temperatures varied greatly. The bottoms of the craters were freezing cold, while on the surface the subsolar points were heated.

"_Back then Mercury still had an atmosphere, although it was quickly faded. It was hypothesized by the Sylvans that this planet was once much closer to Earth's orbit than now, so close to the Sun with burned away it's atmosphere. The Sylvans who chose this planet, were those of technical sharp mind, they build numerous shields around the planet reflecting most of Sun's heat, protected the atmosphere and moved some of the life from Earth to their planet. Hermes was the first King of Mercury, the Head Strategist of Queen Anunit. Although most Sylvans who lived on Mercury preferred the soft humid climate artificially created by them, Hermes placed his castle-city to one of the most freezing point on Mercury, the Caloris Basin. It was there that he found the true power of Mercury, the power over ice. That power not only made the Mercurians ice-resistant: it helped them to protect their planet from the proximity of the Sun but also was found out to be power over fresh-water. Non-salty meaning. The ice doesn't contain any salts on Mercury and when melted it became fresh-water."_

"What about the Moon?" asked Usagi.

"_The Moon was as it had been always. Barren and white. This is where Queen Anunit created the system of domes, where she cultivated the life and flora that they brought from their destroyed world."_

Finally they sped back towards the Earth, coming to a stop above Moon.

"_The colonization lasted a bit more over ten thousand years, and when it finally came to an end and the Sylvan Empire reestablished their place in the universe, only then the Sylvans, now knows as the Silver Alliance looked towards the Earth. By then the remains of an old civilization had once more heightened in power magically and scientifically. Atlantis - that was the name of the combined power of all people across the Earth. But the descendant of Queen Anunit, Queen Sarina, the first queen of Silver Alliance didn't approve their hearts, speaking of an unspeakable darkness that they had awakened. Eventually the Atlantis tore itself down and was separated once more into several other kingdoms. One of those Kingdoms was Elysion. They were the ones who went the furthest away from the old sins of Atlantis. From their line arose the Guardian of Earth. Another Kingdom was that of deserts and sands. It was rich and powerful, and although they too used the darkness, it was not as corroding as the magic that was used by the Atlantins. At that time it's name was Kemet, now known as Egypt. Approximately a thousand years later at the reign of Queen Selenity, the two kingdoms were allowed into the Alliance. First was Egypt to join, and then Elysion joined."_

At this most Senshi stood slack-jawed. Whatever was speaking through Luna, it was not her. Luna was actually in a trance.

"_In that time we were born for the first time. Yet, our happiness didn't last. Terrible enemies emerged and brought the peaceful time of our kingdoms to an end. In the end we were reborn in Tokyo."_

They flew down to Earth, but it was slightly different.

"_Through many hardships and battle the reborn Princesses of the Silver Alliance battled against the enemies of the Earth, protecting the people, hoping for a bright future of peace and serenity."_

The images changed. In front of a full moon stood a long-haired winged warrior, wielding a heart-topped scepter striking her enemies down. Against the ghostly silhouette of Mercury stood proudly a girl with short blue hair, wielding water and ice as her weapons, as she slew down a plant-like bizarre female demon. In the heat of the fire long-black hair swished, unharmed by the flames, and violet eyes burned just as brightly, as she let go of the arrow piercing a demonic looking woman with golden eyes, holding another one similarly dressed to her. On top of the Tokyo Tower, surrounded by the lightning stood a familiar looking auburn-haired girl with familiar emerald eyes, wielding with waves of her hands a giant lightning dragon. A golden-haired pretty girl wielding a golden whip, she flung around cutting through several demons at once

In a flash of petals and a breeze, two elegant women leapt down from a skyscraper, wielding a mirror and a sword as a weapon, striking down the monsters, which were crawling up towards them, as they fell. One of azure colors, with hair and eyes the colors of oceans. The other's hair – the breath of desert, eyes navy blue as the night sky. And on the ground, beneath the skyscraper a warrior clad in black and garnet uniform, decimated dozens of such monster, wielding a key-like rod that shot out lavender orbs of energy. A black-haired violet-eyed girl leapt into a mass of darkness, her weapon a deadly sickle-like staff extended as many ribbons exploded from beneath the ground she touched.

They flashed towards through many unknown faces. Four men garbed in gray general outfits, wearing similar evil smirks, followed by a red-haired queen with sharp jagged teeth. A Great Darkness. A ruby colored general with four sisters as his lackeys. An emerald haughty lady. A white prince and his brother the blue prince. A black-haired blue eyed prince that was on the side of the humanity. A shielded figure in the darkness, under a mantle, with only glowing eerie eyes, it's hands almost skeletal moving over a crystal ball. Five witches and their leader a Magus, who stole human hearts. A black-haired demoness who took over Hotaru's body. The Silence. A queen from the Dark Side of the Moon, who came with her monsters to steal the dreams of the Earth people. A winged-horse with a golden horn on its forehead. Pegasus. Three cats with crescents on their . Artemis. Diana. A white-haired white-clothed priest of the Elysion, a holy land. Amazon Trio. Amazon Quartet. And finally enemies like themselves, Sailor Senshi. Ally Sailor Senshi, dressed in leather, flying through the galaxies. Their redhead princess with ruby red eyes. And the final battle. place where it all began. Where the winged golden-haired heroine jumped into the beginning of it all, wishing for everything to be alright.

"_We fought. We battled. We died that time. But the shine of the Sailor Crystals is eternal and as long as a new heir hasn't been born, we shall be reborn in different places. That is the power of the Sailor Senshi."_

The vision faded and Luna toppled forwards, Makoto quickly rushing to meet the prone body of the purple haired woman. As everyone stayed silent, digesting the strange information.

"So you are –" Anzu trailed off, not quite sure what to call the four girls. According to this they were aliens. Sailor Senshi. Power Guardians of this Solar System.

"I am the reborn Princess Serenity, daughter of Queen Selenity," said Usagi thoughtfully. She appeared also to be shaken by this information, "Although I only asked Luna to speak about our past she has revealed to me information which I have yet t recover."

This was when Anzu finally noticed the expression all three girls. As her gaze shifted from Usagi to Makoto, she finally seemed to remember that event which she barely remembered, since it was almost like a dream to her, like most Shadow Games. The dream of the previous night.

"You're Sailor Moon!" she exclaimed to Usagi, who nodded, "And that means you're Sailor Saturn, so it wasn't a dream!" excitedly spoke the girl. She turned towards Makoto in thought: Sailor Saturn and Sailor Moon were also in this vision. Which probably meant, that this Makoto was also there. Her eyes widened, at the sudden recognition, why didn't she notice the similarity before. That girl who wielded the lightning dragon.

"You were also in that vision, you wielded that dragon!" pointed Anzu, as Makoto nervously laughed nodding, "I am Sailor Jupiter, the warrior of nature and lightning."

"Wait a minute. Now I also remember, I thought it was a weird dream at first and quickly forgot it, as if someone put a spell on me," said Jounoochi.

"It is because the Shadow Games are easily forgotten by people who do not use magic. It is actually surprising that you remember it at all," suddenly spoke up Yami. Anzu jumped slightly. It was the first time he had spoken after having materialized and only now she noticed, how different he was from Yugi. He was a foot taller. His eyes were blood red and overall he looked more muscular than Yugi. Was that what Usagi and the others saw? She felt the heat come up to her cheeks. He was really handsome. But his eyes were only fixed on _her._

Jounoochi continued studying the 'other Yugi'. "Actually, now that you made 'the other Yugi' appear next to Yugi, I'm starting to recognize the differences. Before, whenever I looked at him, though I saw that he was different outwardly I never registered it. To me he was the 'other Yugi' only through his attitude, and lately since Yugi had become more confident I didn't notice the difference. Though I always thought that 'the other Yugi' is just another side of Yugi.

"Alright, enough with this 'other Yugi' business! He has a name. Yami!" suddenly snapped Usagi. It seemed as if during their conversation, each time someone mentioned 'other Yugi' peeved her.

"Is that your name?" questioned Yugi. The other Yugi, no, Yami, froze over. And finally shook his head.

Usagi blinked. "It's not?"

"I do not remember my name. I do not remember who I am. All I know that this Puzzle is connected to Egypt and that's it," spoke Yami darkly. Anzu winced. That had to hurt - not knowing, who you are, from where you come. If she wouldn't know who she was and where she stood, what would she do? Especially if she was only a spirit in some object who could come out every once in a while. It was horrible.

"Luna is still not waking," said Hotaru. Usagi hurried over in worry, as she waved her hand over the prone body of the women in the yellow-purple dress on straps. Anzu blinked as she looked at her, and suddenly her mind pulled out an image from the vision. The vision of a three cats becoming human as they tried to protect Sailor Moon from that enemy Sailor Senshi.

"She is that cat from the vision!" pointed the girl in awe. So it was a morphing cat.

Makoto gave her a lopsided grin. "Not quite. This is Luna's true form. She is a Mau-jin. A race of morphing people from the planet Mau. She is the advisor of Usagi."

Anzu slightly paled. Another alien. But they looked so humanoid

"I was wondering, you are alien but why are you so humanoid?" asked Ryou, effectively picking out the question from her mind. Usagi froze at the unexpected question, looking as if she herself wondered about that question herself.

"Ah, there are many parts of universe, where creatures unlike us live. But we are in the Vikan _(6)_ part of the universe. The _vikarna _are humanoids. The first appearance of such beings had been long enough ago to not know the reasons. But the Sylvans, the humans, the Kinmoku-jin, Mau-jin and all other vikarna race share same humanoid features. Two legs. Two hands. One head. Of course there are differences. I remember some races had no noses, some had tails, some were very tiny, while others were giants," she said.

"Eh, where did you get that from?" asked Makoto.

"Just remembered," grinned Usagi weakly.

"You don't remember everything?" asked Yami suddenly. The girl turned towards, hesitantly nodding as she chewed on her bottom lip. "Yes, Yami. The fact that not only Elysion was allied with Silver Alliance, but also Egypt, in fact it was allied first came to me as a shock. But… surely there must be a reason for our meeting," the last words she spoke were earnest and heartfelt.

"A reason..." the dark mysterious spirit trailed off, as he intently stared at their blonde friend.

"Perhaps… you were also in that past," murmured Usagi, suddenly glancing down, her voice becoming timid, a soft pink hue coloring her cheeks. Yugi glanced at them both and barely stifled a laugh. And inwardly Anzu felt somehow a bit jealous. She had liked 'the other Yugi', no Yami, for a long while, wanting to meet that mysterious stranger who saved her from the dangerous robber in the burger restaurant where she worked at, but he never treated her any special.

"Perhaps you are right. Nothing ever happens without a reason. The puzzle came into Yugi's grandpa's hands, because Yugi is the one, who was destined to solve the puzzle and complete my mind once more," said the red-eyed youth, "Yami Bakura knew of you and Hotaru, and he knew me, he called me a pharaoh. That cannot be a coincidence," he said.

Usagi thoughtfully nodded as she leant back.

Makoto looked between the two curiously. "Who is Yami Bakura?"

Hotaru shifted uncomfortably, "He was a spirit who possessed Ryou," she glanced at Ryou, who nodded to her, allowing the girl to continue.

"Apparently he was a dark spirit in the Sennen Ring," she said, "But Yami defeated him and invoked a penalty game on him."

"Though, it seems as if there's something I'm missing," murmured Yami, rubbing his forehead, flinching.

"Something wrong?" asked Anzu, as she threw him a concerned glance.

"My head just hurts. It's ok."

Hotaru opened her mouth, and then stilled. A pained look came to her face, as she seemed to struggle with something, "What about the Sennen Eye?"

"Is it possible, father can read minds with it?" asked Usagi.

Yami nodded. "That's true. It also can seal souls. And I'm sure it can also invoke other penalties. The way he seals the souls is something I also can do. I presume all Sennen Items are capable of that."

"Though I find it strange. I feel a definite tinge of Chaos in the Sennen Eye, there is no such thing about your puzzle, Yami," said Usagi.

Jounoochi shivered at the mention of that great darkness, the last battle before they were reborn. Anzu paled just at the thought of that thing coming back.

"You think it's _that_?" whispered the girl in fear.

"No… it is not exactly Chaos. But something familiar and really similar. I can't say it exactly," said Usagi her eyes closing, as she rubbed her temple.

"What about the Sennen Ring?" asked Hotaru, standing up abruptly. Usagi shook her head in a negative fashion.

"You said that this is your second rebirth on earth. But I would have heard about the legendary Sailor Senshi. We've been living in Tokyo _(7) _all our life," said Honda. The three Sailor Seshi froze.

"How is that possible? That is absolutely ridiculous," muttered Hotaru.

"Well… Artemis, when searching for us and trying to find out why we were reborn and what went wrong tried to find Princess Kakyuu and Sailor Starlights. And…" Makoto stuttered, as she tried to choose the words.

"Yes?" Usagi said, her hands playing with the bottom of her silvery top, "What happened?"

"The Tankei Kingdom stopped existing at least ten thousand years before this time. It was not destroyed. Rather it came to an end, because the planet was destroyed by the meteor. The remaining inhabitants have fled the soon-to-be destroyed planet and were scattered across the galaxies."

Usagi's hands dropped as she and Sailor Saturn stared at them in shock.

"Artemis will be soon back on Earth. He will fill in the details about what he found out in the meanwhile," said Makoto.

As Anzu looked at the gloomy looking group that was nervously glancing at each other. Ancient Princesses. Souls sealed in cards. Spirits that lived in magical artifacts. Would she ever get her normal life back? She restrained a sigh, as she saw the despaired looks of the three girls.

Usagi and Hotaru had only marched into their life three days ago. But already she felt deeply connected to them. As if she was someone, whom she hadn't seen for a long while. Makoto she had met only yesterday. And she seemed awfully familiar. Perhaps she was too a Sailor Senshi. Anzu started laughing stupidly then, ignoring everyone's bewildered looks. Really, how weird would that be if she was a Sailor Senshi, who would run around in a mini skirt saving the day.

"Anzu?" Usagi was blinking at her.

"Ah, nothing, nothing. I just thought of something ridiculous," Anzu said as she laughed nervously, "But seriously guys," her voice became softer, "I know you are all worried since you don't quite remember your past. Nor you know what happened at the end of your last life. But this is the life we're living now. And we have problems now. The past won't change a thing with Pegasus at the moment," she said. Usagi raised her head, finally brightening up. She didn't look like a lost child anymore.

"Thanks, Anzu, you are right, I've been getting soft and all because of the memories," she said. Even Yami seemed a bit cheered up.

"You're a good friend, Anzu." Yami smiled, as Anzu grinned back, perhaps it was a bit fake, but a grin nonetheless. And as Usagi motioned Hotaru and Makoto to bring Luna to her room, and fill in her when she woke, as everyone started to leave, Yami still in his solid form stood in front of Usagi, the blonde not once making any notion about wanting him to leave. And as Ryou and Jounoochi ushered her out after Yugi, the large ornament doors closed, cutting Usagi and Yami off from everyone.

* * *

The pale white-haired man landed onto the marble surface, coming to a screeching halt. He breathed out a sigh of relief – well, he made it here and just in time. The air in his protection bubble was starting to wear off. Well, he only needed to make one more jump, the Earth was just here, but he had no spare energy left. Well, he supposed, he would have to stay the night in the old Moon Palace. And meanwhile he would also perhaps try to find some information on Shadow Magic. If Pluto knew about it then without a doubt the Silver Alliance documentation would have some data about it.

With long strides the man entered the palace walking past the portrait of the last queen, which by tradition, graced the wall across the entrance, as if regally observing all visitor. Serenity looked really lovely in her mother's dress. The white advisor almost did a back flip. Was that Serenity he saw? He quickly backtracked to the portrait and indeed: long golden-silver hair, a similar dress to her princess one, only more form fitting, the same bright-blue eyes and holding the Moon Stick in its extended form. The Mau-jin froze. That wasn't the Moon Stick. The moon on top of the scepter was not a decoration made of gold, it was a pale metallic blade shaped in the form of the moon. His eyes darted to the bottom of the portrait, as he quickly wiped off the dust:

_Long live the Queen of the Silver Empire, the heir of the Sylvan Empire, Queen Serenity, the Legendary Warrior Sailor Moon, Princess of the Saturn Kingdom, sister to Queen Hotaru of Saturn, wife of…_

The remaining text was scratched off. as if someone had erased it on purpose. Artemis froze. He didn't remember Sailor Moon in the past. But then again… he never remembered Serenity being Hotaru's sister: it was forbidden to mix Lunarian and Saturnian blood due to the high-instability of the hybrids. Frowning the white-haired male raced off towards the Annals of the Silver Alliance, eager to find out, why exactly was Serenity the Queen according to the palace.

* * *

"We should not duel tomorrow," said Yami.

Usagi raised one eyebrow at him. "We? Why are you so sure we will duel? You must defeat Mai first. Besides, I can just try to purify father," she noted.

"Yet you know that won't work."

Usagi stayed silent.

"You also should know that to defeat him you must participate in a Shadow Game. And you don't know what it is like. You summon the monsters at the cost of your own soul. If they die, you are weakened. Those without Shadow Magic cannot participate in the duel," implored Yami, grabbing her hand.

"Minako and Ami have lost their souls. I shall duel you, because I need to beat you, to defeat my father and save him, that I shall do," spoke Usagi, a determined finality in her voice.

"You mustn't. It is my responsibility," said Yami.

"What makes you so sure?" argued back Usagi. And as the spirit didn't answer, she pulled her hands out of his grip, turning her back to him.

"You can't even answer that," she accused, "Then how do you know what is right and what is wrong? You don't even know who you are or remember you past. At least I know who you are." A quiet gasp came from her guest, and instantly Usagi blamed herself for the low blow. Really, she had to know better. How did he feel when he knew that he wasn't Yugi, when he didn't even know his name, when he didn't know his past - he didn't even know for what he fought.

She turned around. He was standing there with an unreadable expression, immediately Usagi lowered her gaze in shame, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," she murmured softly her gaze on the ground, "It's just that… in a way I envy you, because in my life, the past has always shadowed over me, telling me what is my destiny, guiding me towards it," she whispered dejectedly.

"Telling you what is your destiny? You make it, no one decides that for you," said Yami. Usagi gave out a humorless laugh.

"If only it was that easy," she murmured, "Last time everything was already decided. No one asked me whether I want to rule or not. Sure, I liked parts of it, but am I really fit to be queen?"

A warm hand raised her chin upwards, and Usagi found herself in close proximity to _him_, "Yami Bakura said I'm a pharaoh, and if I really were," his lips were so close to her own, "I would definitely make you my queen, you are the most -" his eyes darted to her lips, as she nervously licked them, "- deserving of that title person I've ever met," he was drawing closer and closer to her. And Usagi closed her eyes anticipating what was coming.

A crash sounded. Usagi looked back from where the sound came. The metal floor vase that was standing by the window crashed as a stronger gust from the wind caused the curtains to make it fall. And she turned back her lips were covered by his. His kiss was harsh and domineering, just as she had expected him to be. His warm hands pulled her into a tight grip, as his teeth bit her lower lip. The blonde girl whimpered at the pain, which only caused the red-eyed youth, boy, man (?) What would she call him now? She didn't even know his age. That strange pain that had followed her throughout the whole evening seemed to vanish, as the nameless pharaoh continued. He pulled away and immediately latched on to her neck, kissing, licking, and nibbling as if teasing her. Usagi's legs buckled. And immediately she was caught, and abruptly dumped onto the bed, where he descended on top of her, making her emit tiny meowing noises, as he alienated between kissing her neck, shoulders, lips. All common sense left her comprehension, as she entangled her hands into his hair.

When he finally pulled away, both were breathing hard, their cheeks flushed. Without a doubt, he wanted to continue, but… but… Usagi closed her eyes, trying to gather her mind. It was sometimes hard to remember important details when the memories and emotions collided.

In a soft kiss their lips once more met and Usagi's eyes flew wide open. Yami pulled away, a small smile on his lips. "Sleep well, Queen of the White Moon," he whispered, hesitantly pulling away. Usagi didn't rise from the bed to lock the door after him as she lay on the bed, trying to sort everything out. She had let it go out of control. Out of control! She had to remind herself of Endymion, of Chibi-Usa, of her future. But that was in that life, what about this one…

Usagi bit back a curse, as she slammed a fist into the soft bed. She had a destiny. But… why did it feel so right kissing him. But she was the Moon Princess. She was fated to be with the Earth Prince. That was their destiny. For the longest while the blonde heroine lay still on the bed, as she cursed the bane of her existence. The Sailor Crystal. Finally after what it seemed like an eternity, yet the clock told her only an hour passed, she got up to undress and go to sleep. She had a long day tomorrow. She had to save the souls of her friends. She would worry about the unimportant stuff later. And she would give Yami a piece of her mind, how dare he kiss her without her permission. She was betrothed to Endymion, for Selene's sake!

And then she fell to the floor groaning in pain, as the strange ache came back full force. Her body trembled. Once more it was there. She needed to get near him. Only near him this strange sensation stopped affecting her. Near him she felt safe. All previous thoughts gone, Usagi clutched at her heart whimpering quietly as she struggled to stand up. She had to get to his room. She had to tell him. Biting back another scream as the pain tore through her again, she fell back to her knees. It was useless. She couldn't even stand up. What was happening to her? What was this strange pain?

The door suddenly opened, "Usagi?" it was his voice. The blonde Senshi raised her head, barely managing to call out his name. Immediately the dark spirit was kneeling next to her, asking about her well-being. Usagi whimpered once more, as another surge of pain coursed through her weak body. It was unbearable. Through the haze she noted that she was no longer on the floor, but rather cuddled to a warm-warm chest. The hurt started subsiding, as she dearly held onto his black shirt.

"There, there, little princess, everything will be alright, relax, don't let it take over you," whispered Yami softly into her ears, his voice gently carrying her over to Hypnos's reign as if on waves. Through blurry eyes Usagi saw only his red eyes gleaming in the darkness. Red like the blood. So enticing.

"Yami, please stay. Only near you, I don't feel this pain," she murmured slowly losing consciousness. The warm body that held her startled in alarm, but then held her even closer, as numerous promises were gently whispered to her. She wondered why he was here immediately. And as his words were bringing her over to the dream world, idly the blonde wondered: perhaps he had been standing guard outside of her door for the last hour. A soft smile crossed her lips.

_Like a knight in shining armor. _

* * *

_**Chapter notes:**_

_(1) Byobu – Japanese folding screen_

_(2) Sendai-dansu – Japanese dresser with numerous drawing folders_

_(3) Tokonama – an alcove, extending into the wall were traditionally a scroll is placed and some pottery exhibition or ikebana_

_(4) Settee - sort of like an elaborate sofa, look up Wikipedia_

_(5) Fauteuil – sort of like an elaborate armchair, with feet, look up Wikipedia._

_(6) Vikan galaxy, vikarna, vikan planet – vikan means humanoid as an adjective, vikarna means 'a humanoid'. This was 'borrowed' from The Great Matter by Cookirini, and amazing Sailor Moon story. You can read it from my profile._

_(7) According to YGO manga, Domino is just a district in Tokyo._

* * *

**End Chapter 5**

* * *

**Teaser: **

"Aren't you Yami Bakura?" asked Sailor Saturn pointing her wickedly curved blade at the white-haired thief. Those eyes, those same eyes.

"Hey, don't worry. I came here to help you!" Bakura held up his hands laughing. "I've changed. The pharaoh has banished the darkness from my heart."

Sailor Saturn lowered her glaive as she carefully observed him.

"Well you did get us out of there and you broke the spell which hindered us from breaking out, I guess I can try to believe you," said Saturn, as she motioned Honda and Jupiter to follow her out of the cell.

"You hurt me, oh bright Sailor Senshi. Searching for your fellow Senshi and Mokuba? Follow me," with a mock-bow the spiky-haired man went off, his ring extended in front of him.

* * *

_**05/05/2011**__ – Just as promised, I'm keen on updating Infinitas, since I need to get it to a specific point.** Next chapter:**_ The adventure in the night. The semi-finals and the finals. The mysterious Sailor Senshi.

* * *

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the Duelist Kingdom.**

**So, motivate the author. I mean 10 reviews per chapter is not much to ask for!  
**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	7. 6: Night Shift and Battle of Wills

**_15/05/2011_**_ – Aye, people! I did it. I planned out this stories timeline to the end. I feel accomplished. Also. Here is the next chapter. It has three duels within it so kind of long. For al of you who watched the dubbed version of Yugioh and never read the manga, it would do well to actually not skip Mai/Yami duel. Actually, it wouldn't do well to skip that duel in any case. Because if you remembere, Mai is Sailor Tori, and she has memories of the past, and the whole duel is from her POV.  
Also, there is a new issue about this story. It is addressed below.  
_

* * *

**_Little Note on Yami Bakura and Thief King Bakura_**

I've_ reread the manga_, also_ consulted the Wikia_, and Yami Bakura is neither the Thief King nor is he anyways connected to Ryou Bakura.** Thief King Bakura is a separate entity from Yami Bakura**, as (spoiler alert) **Yami Bakura is ZORC!**

Which brings me to a problem. According to all logic, _Thief King Bakura was the first host to Yami Bakura_, who isn't even_ human_. He is Zorc, that ugly-ass creature!  
R_you Bakura was the second host to Yami Bakura._ And considering the similarities of Ryou Bakura and Thief King Bakura, and the fact that they are both used, the fact that in the anime when the Thief King is destroyed by Yami Bakura (Zorc) he sounds pretty much like Ryou, **_Ryou Bakura is the reincarnation of Thief King Bakura_**.  
According to all material collections: Ryou Bakura is the reincarnation of Thief King Bakura, who didn't actually even hurt a fly until he was possessed and influenced by Zorc in the past. And it has been told in the manga and the anime that the spirit in the ring **_is _**Zorc. So… apparently poor Ryou will get even more drama as he will start remembering stuff…

* * *

Thank to all those who reviewed, alerted, favourited this story: **SailorVMoon1311815 **(The past is even more interesting actually, especially how they are flung about in the incarnations)**, Chibs **(Hah, that shall be revealed once Luna and Artemis return)**, Destined Deathreaper **(YamiUsagi are the cutest pairing)**, wildflower1014 **(Ahahaha, and even with these long chapter my estimation of the length of this story is like 40 chapters)**, Krissy **(here you go)**, Kochou-hime **(yes, the ending of the previous chapter was awesome, YamiUsa are so cute)**, Cosmic-lover **(more twists, more twists to the story, I demand more twists, ahahahaha)**, Sesshy's Mistress **(meow, meow, you're welcome), **tsukinohimeserenity**

* * *

**_Names (first name is highlighted):_**

**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_

**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 6  
**

* * *

It was late at night when the two Senshi quietly exited their room.

"Hotaru-san! What are you doing here? And you too, Makoto-san…"

Hotaru and Makoto startled and turned around. Honda and Anzu apparently were also not sleeping.

"We could ask you the same thing," countered Hotaru quickly.

"I've decided that we need to get Kaiba's and Mokuba's bodies out of Pegasus's grasp," said Honda.

"Same here. We need to find Ami-chan and Minako-chan… they got stuck there because of me." The pale girl lowered her gaze. It was all her fault. If she hadn't been caught in the first place, Minako and Ami wouldn't have had to come to this castle to save her. And now their souls were caught by Pegasus. It was all her fault.

"I see. Then we better team up." At that Anzu turned to glare at Honda.

"Honda-kun, you are such an idiot! You want to team up, after you thought the whole while that Usagi-chan is a spy!" she exclaimed.

Makoto jolted in shock. "What?" The auburn-haired amazon glared at the brunet boy.

"Hey, what did you expect me to think!" said Honda vehemently, "I am Yugi's friend and I wanted to protect him. When I find out that the _daughter _of Pegasus is following us, of course I suspected something." He crossed his arms in annoyance, glaring back at Makoto.

Hotaru placed a hand on the tall Senshi's shoulder, as she glanced at Honda. "It's okay, Honda-kun, Mako-chan is very protective of Usagi. But I understand you. I would do the same in your position."

Makoto gasped. "Hotaru!"

"We need to put our differences aside. You heard what the princess said. We're working together with them," said Hotaru, "Let's go. The night will run out if we stay here and argue." Her eyes were narrowed in determination: at the moment everything that mattered was getting Minako, Ami, Seto and Mokuba to safety, at least their bodies.

Honda nodded in agreement. The athletic girl, who had been glaring at Honda, sighed relenting.

"You're right. Let's go," Makoto muttered. The three of them took off, but Anzu didn't follow. Hotaru turned around, gazing at the brunette inquiringly.

"Anzu, are you going?" she asked. The girl in question laughed nervously and shook her head.

"No, I'll stay here," she replied, "Besides. Honda-kun can fight. You both are soldiers. And I am useless in a battle," her gaze lowered to the ground, and for a second Hotaru wanted to argue back, but, truthfully speaking, Anzu was right. If they were to be caught she would be dead weight.

"Well… if you say so…" Hotaru trailed off. The brunette just smiled encouragingly, "Go on. You can't dawdle all night here," she said. The 'rescue-team' nodded and ran off.

Anzu approached Yugi's door, just as it opened. The door opened revealing the amethyst-eyed classmate of hers.

"Hey, Yugi-kun," she murmured, her eyes wandered to his room, "Yami-kun isn't here?" she asked. He didn't even have to answer. She already knew. Her sapphire blue eyes lowered to the ground, refusing to meet Yugi's concerned stare.

"No, he hasn't returned, and I don't really think he will," laughed Yugi nervously. Anzu's shoulders dropped. "Why aren't you sleeping, Anzu-chan? And I though I heard voices here," said Yugi glancing out into the hallway.

"Ah, Honda-kun, Makoto-san, Hotaru-chan left to retrieve Kaiba's, Mokuba's and their friends' bodies."

"Is there something bothering you?" the petite youth asked. Anzu frowned. Yugi was always right on spot. He easily saw the hearts of other people, and that included hers.

"I'm just still a bit shocked," murmured the brunette, as Yugi stepped aside, letting her into his room. Really, why was it that the first guy she really liked preferred the other girl. And as usual, Yugi had to cheer her up.

* * *

Sliding close to the shadows near the walls the trio carefully made their way through Pegasus's castle, as they neared the basement. Honda carefully looked around the corner, where he saw two burly security men standing.

"Careful. There are two guards! Guarding something," he whispered trailing off, "an entrance to the basement…" There must be something important then.

"That's where the prison is," quietly replied Hotaru.

Makoto and Honda blinked in surprise. "Prison?" Honda scratched his head - he should've figured that Pegasus would even have a prison on the island. Well, at least they were lucky that Usagi _hadn't been _a spy.

Hotaru frowned. "Quiet…"

"How do we get past them," Honda glanced at the guards again, they were pretty big, "I can't take them both on."

Makoto chuckled soundlessly. "Nothing we Sailor Senshi can't deal with!" And with the speed of light the tall brunette darted out from their hiding spot, surprising the two guards, but by the time they started reaching for their weapon, they were already knocked out.

Makoto grinned widely, as she was dusting her hands off.

"Woah, awesome. Are all of you Amazons like that," Honda felt really light-headed. Where all Sailor Senshi like that? Strong women who easily took out grown men. He still feared that other woman: Lune or whatever was her name.

"Only Mako-chan actually," replied Hotaru giggling lightly. The brunet honestly though she wasn't saying everything,

Makoto waved for them to follow, as she quickly began to descend into the darkness of the basement. The lights downstairs were dim, and barely anything could be seen. Hotaru though seemed strangely at peace with the eerie setting.

"A basement prison. You were right," Honda said.

"I've been here already." Hotaru frowned as she glanced back and forth, in contemplation.

Makoto walked over to them. "Where to?"

"That way!"

They were forced to follow the black-haired girl quickly, barely keeping up with her in the darkness where they couldn't really see.

"I see Mokuba!" suddenly exclaimed Hotaru. How the black-haired girl could see anything still eluded Honda.

"Ami-chan! Minako-chan," suddenly exclaimed Makoto, running up to another cell. As Honda glanced there, he blinked, and quickly fought back to contain a furious blush. Really, he shouldn't have had even such thoughts. But both girls were really pretty. One was a gorgeous blonde, wearing and orange and blue uniform, that he saw all the other Senshi wear. The other one had short blue hair, and a blue visor was in front of her eyes. The only thing that was wrong with them, were their blank blue gazes that stared right ahead.

"Are all of you Senshi pretty?" Honda deadpanned.

"Honda!" growled the tall emerald-eyed girl. She punched him lightly.

"Kidding!" The brunet laughed, yet his expression quickly became serious once more. Now wasn't the time for jokes. "But let get them out of here…"

"Wake up, Mokuba!" spoke Honda, as he walked up to the cell where Mokuba was.

"Idiot! They have no souls!" hissed Hotaru.

A click was heard in the darkness. The trio stilled.

"I don't remember inviting any rodents!" growled a dark voice, immediately the two girls whirled around, ready to attack, but they suddenly froze, and Honda felt the cold surface of something metallic connect to his temple.

Makoto growled. "Shoot!"

And so the little 'rescue-team' got caught.

"Into the cell with you! Maggots! And move quickly, unless you want to see his brains on the wall," growled the minion of Pegasus, as he opened the cell with the soulless Sailor Senshi and motioned Hotaru and Makoto to get in there too.

Once they were in the guard ominously chuckled: "Let's see you try to get out of this cell, magic-users! Pegasus-sama created this one specifically for you!"

Hotaru frowned. She walked up to the bars, placing her hand at one of them. "What the hell! Magic-resistance!"

"Can't you blow it up or something?" whispered Honda quietly. The guard was still near. And that gun was still dangerous.

"I can't! If we attack here, we'll end up all dead! Even worse if Hotaru attacks! We'll end up as molecules!" hissed Makoto.

"Whaaat? That powerful?" Honda groaned. Why did this come to this now. This was… so bothersome.

* * *

He really didn't even have to ask Anzu what was bothering her, when she was looking in the direction where Usagi's room was. Although he could ask Yami to come over, or ask him where he was, Yugi thought it was quite useless. He _knew _without asking where the spirit was. And since the spirit also had a solid state for the while…

Without a doubt Yami was currently with Usagi, and in all honesty the blonde girl needed his presence. Despite the past which she revealed to them, a past that was so overwhelming, he couldn't sleep himself; even if she was a Legendary Sailor Senshi, even if she was the Moon Princess – she was still a sixteen year old girl who just found out that her father was stealing souls.

In a way, perhaps it was even more horrible. At least he just had to defeat Pegasus. But she… she had to defeat her own father, and if necessary destroy him. Anzu shifted nervously in the armchair. The brunette wasn't starting to talk, so perhaps he could…

"You know. I'm still quite shocked myself. I always thought that 'mou hitori no boku' was a part of me. You know, like a different me but much more confident. But… he is not," said Yugi.

The blue-eyed brunette shifted from her position, as she glanced up at him.

"You know, you told me it's okay to be me, and I can stay this way," he continued. It was really kind of sad for him to see Anzu this way. Back when he didn't quite understand that there was another mind inside his own, Anzu had invited him to the amusement park: the same amusement park where a serial bomber was supposed to appear. Afterwards, he understood her motivation. She wanted to meet 'the other Yugi'. Yami.

But now that they could finally connect: he and Yami – now that they could finally talk, feel what the other feels, hear it, experience it, unless blocking the other (like now) – he understood that Yami never considered Anzu anything more than a friend. In a way it placated his heart that was in turmoil, due to the fact that he had liked her for a very-very long time.

"I can't stay myself. I understood that. I must become stronger," he muttered, glancing up at her, his gaze determined. She blinked. "I have to become stronger to protect you," he said.

The brunette's eyes softened, "Yugi…" she murmured trying to find the words.

But how he knew very well: she was thinking about Yami. But Yami wouldn't always be there to protect her. Yami found his own person to protect. He could always feel him reach out to her. And she was drawn to him as well. And as ironic as it was: a Princess and a Pharaoh who both shared the same ancient past – they were an ideal match.

"So count on me, Anzu-chan. I shall always be there to protect you," said Yugi softly. He would always protect Anzu. Although it was quite sad, that the first person he ever truly liked preferred someone else, even if that someone else looked almost like he did. Especially due to that.

* * *

So far they were waiting for the security to drop his guard, but so far without any success. But at least Pegasus hadn't come yet. Though how they would manage to escape the 'magic-resistant' cell still eluded them.

A sudden clang from the hallway alarmed the 'rescue-team' trio, as Makoto quickly went to the bars, trying to see what was happening there. The stuttering voice of the security guard was heard: "What kind of a joke is this?" There was a dull thump of a body falling down.

"What happened?" asked Honda.

A shadow moved in the passage. Makoto strained her head to the side to see the one lurking there, but nothing. Suddenly a dark form moved to stand in from of their cell, the clang of the keys in the person's hand alerting them to the fact that they were saved.

"Who is it?" asked Makoto. For some strange reason she couldn't quite make out the person in the shadows. As if he was shielded by the darkness.

A violet flash of light behind lit up the newcomer's features: it was that Ryou Bakura boy, but there was something different about him; his hair was spikier and his eyes were violet _(1). _Makoto frowned: weren't Ryou's eyes brown.

A long staff suddenly was extended past her, the sharp blade resting at the youth's Adam's apple. Makoto jumped away, from the weapon. The violet light was from Sailor Saturn transforming.

"Aren't you Yami Bakura?" asked Sailor Saturn pointing her wickedly curved blade at the white-haired thief. Those eyes, those same eyes. Hotaru glared at him. She wouldn't be fooled: she saw through the changes just as clear as she saw through the switch between Yugi and Yami.

"Hey, don't worry. I came here to help you!" Bakura held up his hands laughing. "I've changed. The pharaoh has banished the darkness from my heart."

Even though she didn't want to believe him, he _did _get them out of this tough situation. Sailor Saturn lowered her glaive as she carefully observed him.

"Well you did get us out of here, I guess I can try to believe you," said Saturn, as she motioned Honda and Jupiter to follow her out of the cell.

"You hurt me, oh bright Sailor Senshi. Follow me," with a mock-bow the spiky-haired man went off, his ring extended in front of him.

The trio each grabbed a person to carry. Sailor Saturn took Mokuba, Makoto picked up Ami and Honda carried Minako. Sailor Saturn followed in quick strides the thief.

Makoto caught up to her. "Can we trust him?" Her emerald eyes were fixed on the boy's back.

"Definitely not," replied Sailor Saturn. Something about him screamed danger. But there was that same feeling about Yami. But here… it was something else. But so far he hadn't tried to attack them, and Usagi would be disappointed if they acted like Haruka and Michiru usually did.

Honda's frowned as he glanced at Bakura. "But, you know, when Yami defeated someone at a shadow game before, they usually changed… for the better."

Sailor Saturn startled. She blinked in surprise: "Really?" Could it be possible… if Yami could banish the darkness from someone's hearts then… The black-haired girl shook her head – no, through all of their lives they experienced there were so few who could truly cleanse the darkness.

"You know. Like Mokuba," Honda explained, "And Kaiba. It's kind of like their evil was stripped away." Sailor Saturn turned her curious gaze from Honda to Bakura. Could it really be possible? Then why was she feeling so unsettled?

"It's impolite to talk behind someone's back," spoke up the dark spirit in his low voice. Sailor Saturn jumped in fright, as somehow he managed to end up right behind her. But he was just now in front of them. She could feel his breath almost near her neck and it was scorching. A low chuckle came from Bakura, as he walked past her frozen form. "But yes, I've changed for the better." Her violet eyes were wide, and she didn't even notice she stopped breathing until Makoto's hand landed on her shoulder. The girl's head whipped around. She was staring wide-eyed at her fellow soldier. She looked even more pale than usual.

Makoto glanced at her with concerned eyes. "Hotaru-chan?"

Sailor Saturn shook herself out of the stupor. "I don't trust him… even though he feels familiar."

"Familiar?" echoed the Amazon.

"But not in the good kind of way," replied the pale Senshi.

Once more she felt the scorching breath near her face. "Shall I help you carry your friend?" Bakura grinned at her widely his violet eyes burning in the darkness.

"No need! I can do it myself," curtly answered Saturn, as she went past him.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. So snappy. And here I'm helping you," Bakura taunted.

"I don't trust my friends' wellbeing in your hands," hissed Saturn.

The white-haired spirit only laughed. "I'm hurt."

"Watch out for the guards better," Saturn snapped at him.

A mock bow was awarded to her. "As you wish, your majesty."

"Kaiba isn't here though," Honda suddenly said. The group stopped.

Bakura grinned darkly: "They hold him in a much more secure cell. And Pegasus is watching him all the time."

Honda and Makoto cursed.

"We can't get him," spoke Saturn, "Pegasus alone took out two Sailor Senshi."

"But what about Kaiba then?" Honda exclaimed in distress.

The violet-clad Sailor Senshi frowned. Kaiba wasn't supposed to be in any danger. Pegasus would still need the soulless boy to get control of Kaiba corporation. "Pegasus can't kill Kaiba. He needs him. So…" Saturn trailed off. Usually they tried not to leave anyone behind.

"So we'll leave him," finished Makoto grimly.

"Yes, we have to," grind out the black-haired soldier.

Bakura chuckled. "Leaving friends behind. How unlike you, Sailor Senshi."

With angry eyes Sailor Saturn whirled around. What right did he have to criticize them! "What do you know?"

Bakura started laughing, as she leveled him with an angry scowl. Makoto tried to intervene between – not really willing to spend more time here.

"OK, let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps," the emerald-eyed girl laughed, as she nudged Saturn forward, shifting the still body of Ami on her back.

"Strange, though," spoke up Honda suddenly, as everyone glanced at him.

"What is it?" asked Saturn.

"Wasn't the hallway much shorter before?" deadpanned the brown-haired boy.

Sailor Saturn and Makoto froze in their track and Bakura cursed loudly, as his ring began glowing, its pendants pointing in different directions.

"A trap!" growled their white-haired guide.

"What?" exclaimed Honda and Makoto. The shadows around them shifted and suddenly they found themselves not in Pegasus's castle. The darkness around them was encompassing, the only light provided by the slightly glowing Minako, Ami, Makoto and Saturn, and Bakura's Ring.

"Where are we?" whispered Makoto, as she took a step back bumping into Honda.

"Shadow Realm," replied Bakura.

Immediately the tall girl's gaze shifted to him sharply. "And you would know how?"

"He just knows. Having brought us here himself," growled Saturn as she set Mokuba down and whirled around, ready to pounce on the dark spirit. She remembered _that time _in the Shadow Realm.

The dark spirit scoffed. "It wasn't my doing now. I think this was placed by Pegasus to stop you from saving your friends."

"Poor Usagi-chan. Her father is a villain," Makoto sighed, leaning down to place down Ami next to Mokuba.

"He is controlled," murmured Saturn, as her eyes moved from one wisp of purple mist to another. She thought she just saw something moving there

Honda also placed Minako down next to Mokuba and Ami, looking around nervously.

A screech sounded from the darkness.

"What the hell?" shouted Makoto, as a flame erupted from the darkness, coursing straight at them. Bakura hissed in anger, stepping forward, extending his hand, the Ring glowing bright golden as the shadows leapt up shielding them from the sudden attack. From the darkness several Duel Monsters emerged, all level seven. Saturn immediately summoned back her Silence Glaive, which she banished when carrying Mokuba.

"Monsters! Powerful ones too," said Bakura, his piercing gaze jumping from the many monsters that loomed over them, their eyes glowing red.

"Lets go Mako-chan!" said Hotaru. Makoto nodded as she summoned her Sailor Crystal, Honda immediately gasping in surprise, as the green heart-shaped, translucent, glowing crystal appeared in her hands.

"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!" shouted Makoto and the bright electric light and lightning surrounded her, instantly forming her outfit.

"Woah! So awesome!" swooned Honda, as he stared at Makoto, who was now Sailor Jupiter.

"Honda-kun, Bakura, protect Mokuba, Minako and Ami. We'll fight them ourselves," ordered Saturn, bringing her Glaive forward.

"Death Drive Break _(2)_!" she announced, leaping forwards swinging her glaive around as it glowed dark violet, the impacted monsters screaming in pain as hey vanished. The Senshi of Silence whirled around, ready to strike down another monster, as it advanced on her.

A black blast of magic destroyed the monster. Hotru whirled around, Bakura stood behind her, "I won't be lying low, if you think so, Senshi!" he hissed, aggravated at the notion that he should stay back.

"Now's not the time guys!" exclaimed Jupiter, as she leapt past them, "Supreme Thunder Dragon!" she screamed, calling down the giant lightning dragon, which 'ate' three of the advancing monsters, burning the to crisp.

Honda nervously gulped, as she observed the supernatural trio flinging violet energy blasts, lightning bolts and magic flares towards the multitude of monsters, decimating them quickly. But much to their chagrin the monsters reformed almost immediately after their destruction.

"Oh no! Honda, careful!" shouted suddenly the Senshi of Lightning. Honda whirled around, only to see a large blast from a dragon, which had made its way behind them, heading straight towards him and their soulless friends. Time seemed to slow down. The Sailor Senshi were running towards him, but they wouldn't be able to make it.

A bright voice echoed through dark space. "Feather Hurricane Storm!"

A blast of wind intercepted the dragon's flare, the feather's swirling around imbued with magic taking all the damage. There was a flash of light in the darkness, behind the dragon and it fell apart, as it was cut apart.

"What was that?" Saturn exclaimed, as she jumped in front of them. From the darkness in front emerged another female. At first they thought her to be Harpy Lady.

"I didn't think there would be a day when I'd have to help the powerful Sailor Senshi of the Silver Empire!" she spoke haughtily, giggling lightly, as she emerged into the dim light provided by the shining Sailor Senshi. She _wasn't _a Harpy Lady, even though her outfit was definitely inspired. She raised her hand and murmured a spell, and the other Duel Monster's froze.

"Who are you?" asked Saturn pointing her Glaive at the newcomer. She was wearing the same revealing outfit as the Harpies wore, but there was a difference. First of all she had normal human skin, her hair was bright blonde, held up by a violet ribbon. The top of her outfit was also different, she had a collar reminiscent of the fuku-collars the Sailor Senshi wore, though instead of a heart-shaped brooch with a bow, she had a round black gem brooch on her chest, lined by lavender tiny wings, shaped in the form of a bow. She didn't have the bird-claws that Harpies possessed instead wearing armored gloves and boots. But she _did _posses wings.

She bowed her head in respect at Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn, "Guardian of the Shadow Realm, Sailor Tori at your service, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn."

"You're also a Sailor Senshi!" exclaimed Jupiter, a smile lighting up her features, though she looked rather confused.

"It must be a trick! I do not feel the shine of a Sailor Crystal! Do not trust her, Jupiter!" bit back Saturn, raising the blade up to the newcomer's throat.

"You are correct, Princess," Sailor Tori smirked, her violet eyes widening, "I am not a true Sailor Senshi. I am part of the treaty between the Kingdom of Kemet and the Silver Alliance," Saturn's grip on the Glaive tightened, "One of the four selected to learn from Sailor Senshi and act as Guardians of the Shadow Realm."

"Kingdom of Kemet?" she asked.

"Egypt," replied Tori.

"So, this means –" Honda stuttered.

"This means that the Pharaoh is really connected to the Silver Alliance!" Jupiter exclaimed.

Sailor Tori grinned, "Even more so to the Silver Empire."

The two Sailor Senshi glanced at her in confusion. "Wasn't it the Silver Alliance?" the Senshi of Lightning asked. The first growl echoed behind them. The trapped group whirled around. One by one, the monsters were breaking out from whatever spell Sailor Tori placed on then.

"We'll talk later!" yelled Tori, over the screeches of the Duel Monsters once more awakening, "For now, can you try to hold of the monsters for me to break the Trap?"

Saturn and Jupiter shared a glance. "No problem!"

"Jupiter! Oak Evolution!"

"Silence Glaive Surprise!"

he two Senshi were yelling their attacks one by one destroying the advanced monsters, as Bakura summoned his own monsters to deal with the enemy.

"The time is right!" announced Sailor Tori, "Goddess Aphrodite grant me the safe passage from this Darkness! Goddess Isis, lady of magic, break the spell of darkness. _Seki kkwy akh!_" On her forehead lit up the glowing Horus Eye and it's flare covered the darkness dispelling the darkness of the Shadow Realm. The two Sailor Senshi relaxed their stances.

Jupiter turned around grinning. "Thanks!"

The hallway was empty and their were standing right next to the stairs to upper floors. "She's gone," muttered the Jupiter Senshi scratching her head.

* * *

The sunlight was filtering through the blue curtains when she woke up. She felt warm and very comfortable, and she wasn't quite on her pillow or under her covers. Usagi blinked twice, as the haze of the sleep vanished. She was staring into the bright red eyes.

"You're transparent…" murmured the blonde, reaching out to brush a strand of golden bangs out of his ways.

"Yes. Your spell stopped working awhile ago," replied Yami. He was still holding her. Blushing furiously Usagi remembered that last night she had asked Yami to stay the night near her, due to that strange pain.

"But I still feel your touch, you can still hold me, I can touch you," she murmured trailing her hand across his cheek. She even felt the warmth slightly.

"Strange isn't it?" The pharaoh smiled at her, as he shifted her to a sitting position, leaning closer to her face.

Usagi laughed nervously, as she quickly jumped out of his hands, much to his annoyance. "We have to get ready," she chided waving her finger around.

"I guess," murmured Yami sighing in exasperation. He too got up, and started making his way towards the door.

"Yami-kun?" Usagi spoke, just as he was about to phase through the door.

He turned around, his piercing eyes staring straight into her. "Yes?"

Usagi shivered under his exotic gaze, lowering her eyes to the ground. "Thanks… for helping me," she murmured, clasping her arms together. Had she _really _asked him to _stay the night. _She was just lucky that Yami was honorable, some _other men _could actually understand her the wrong way.

His voice was suddenly next to her. Usagi jolted, her head whipping up, as she found herself staring straight in the blood red. "Never be afraid to ask for my help. I'll always be there for you." She could even feel his breath. He softly embraced her and quickly ran off, no doubt to get ready with Yugi for the final battles of this cursed tournament.

"Yami-kun…" whispered Usagi, raising her hand to her cheek, where Yami had placed a soft, chaste kiss just before leaving. Her eyes lowered to the ground.

_'I guess it's time to start. Today. I'll have to defeat Yami to save father… or else…'_

With a heavy heart the blonde rearranged her hair, just as Hotaru walked into her room.

"Usagi-chan. We retrieved the bodies of Mokuba, Minako and Ami. They're safe. We couldn't get Seto though," said the violet eyed girl, she considered a sister.

"I see…" whispered Usagi. At least they were safe. Her father couldn't use their bodies to threaten them. Hotaru shifted uncomfortably.

The blue eyes shifted to the form of her friend sharply, just as she fastened the black ribbons on her odangos. Hotaru was hiding something. "Anything else?"

"Yami Bakura…" Hotaru trailed off.

Usagi's eyes widened in shock. "He's back?"

Hotaru nodded. Her eyes narrowed, as her voice lowered. "Yes, but he said he changed."

Usagi huffed. "Somehow I doubt it."

"Well, Honda-kun said that Yami has that effect on people whom he defeats," Hotaru spoke in a doubtful tone.

Usagi's fingers tapped on the vanity table, as she stared at her own reflection deep in thought. "I see. I'll ask Yami later about it," she said finally, "Does Bakura show any signs of wanting to interrupt the tournament."

Hotaru shrugged. "Not really. He actually got us out of a pinch yesterday."

"I see." Still there was something amiss. That person, in the Shadow Realm, when they were all monsters, he had a strange feeling about him.

Hotaru giggled. Usagi turned to her, an eyebrow raised.

"You know… before you would have been just happy that he changed and decided to start over," spoke the black-haired girl, a teasing grin on her face. The blonde cringed. How did they manage to survive in their previous incarnation she had no idea. At the moment, with the knowledge of this life, a lot of her decisions back then seemed careless and risky.

"That was before…" Usagi trailed off. Was Hotaru also resentful of her current attitude? Her eyes sharply glanced up at her friend. "Or do you also resent the fact that I am not Usagi Tsukino?"

"No," the pale girl replied. She giggled slightly. "I would be never able to do it. I would be lying to myself if I did that. That is… normal," her expression became serious, "Besides, there is something about Yami Bakura… something which escapes my mind, but I feel as if there is something very important I'm missing about him."

"He knows us. He knows the pharaoh. And you remember what Luna said about the Earth," mentioned Usagi offhandedly, as she started brushing her ponytails.

Hotaru frowned. "You think we met him in the past?"

"I am sure of it."

Hotaru brightened up, "Ah! That's right! We met a new Sailor Senshi yesterday!" At this Usagi turned away from her mirror towards Hotaru, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Although she wasn't really a Senshi either," Hotaru said.

"What?" Usagi blinked in confusion.

"Sailor Tori – she said she is one of the four selected to act as Shadow Senshi, on behalf of the treaty between Egypt and the Moon," explained Hotaru.

Usagi placed down the brush, staring down. "So it is true," she whispered. Usagi stood up, "Is she an ally?"

"No idea. She left quickly after getting us out of a spell set up by -" Hotaru cut herself off, not daring to mention Usagi's father's name in front of her, "after freeing us from the trap made with Shadow Magic."

Usagi's lips were set in a tight line. The blonde didn't miss her falter. "Anything else?"

Hotaru scratched the back of her head, reminding herself of the events that had transpire.

"Ah, Luna left."

Usagi blinked. "Why?"

"I don't know. She seemed rather nervous after we recapped her trance last night and then, when Artemis contacted her this morning she quickly left to the Moon."

"The Moon Kingdom… I wonder… what could they find there –" Usagi mumbled. There was nothing left on the moon, no one could tell them anything. Only the remnants f a distant past was there, which should have decayed long ago. But the agent of love and justice suddenly realized one tiny little nuance. Nothing decayed on the Moon, as everything was held up by preservation spells, wherever there was a random air-pocket preserved by the remnants of the Moon Castle. And so were preserved the documents.

"Of course! The archives"

"You're right!" Hotaru grinned. "Perhaps they'll find more clues there."

The door flew open, and the energetic blond boy from Domino bounced in, followed by Anzu and Yugi.

Over Jounoochi '_motivational_' speech and shouts of encouragement for all duelists, Anzu laughed sheepishly, as she waved to the blonde duelist: "Usagi-chan, are you ready?"

Usagi's and Yugi's eyes met and the next second she was staring at Yami. It was time to begin the fated stand. She would be facing him and she would have to give her all to defeat him.

Her blue eye burned with determination. "Yes, let's go."

* * *

Everyone was gathered in the Dueling Arena. It was time to start the final duels of this game.

"Heh, good morning boys, morning Usagi-kun," Mai nodded to the duelists, her gaze lingered on Usagi who was staring at the opposite balcony, where her father sat. The blonde Shadow Senshi's eyes narrowed. Ever since coming here she had been feeling the darkness grow. This tournament was a Shadow Tournament. Ever since seeing the spirit of the pharaoh dueling the fake Kaiba she knew it. That apparition who fought against him was an embodiment of evil.

She realized that this was not going to be a simple tournament when she ended up on the ferry to the Duelist Kingdom: when she met Yugi, the boy with the Sennen Puzzle, the item that had once belonged, to the pharaoh of the kingdom of gold and deserts. The presence of Hotaru and Usagi only proved her suspicions. Then there was also Jounoochi, Anzu, Honda: everyone was connected to their past - at least to the past which she remembered.

"So, Yugi! The time to decide who's the strongest on this island has come," she winked at the red-eyed pharaoh. Mai knew that he wasn't Yugi, but before she revealed herself to them, she would first have to test him. Back then she had been annoyed at the fact, that she, a Noble Lady of Venus was forced to live among the Terrans and follow the orders of a foreign king. This has led to her betrayal. But this time around, he wasn't her king yet, unless her Queen planned to resurrect the alliance between her and the other ancient spirit – so, before that Mai would make sure that he still was the same pharaoh. Unless he proved himself worthy…

"Welcome, proud duelists. Welcome to this holy place sanctified by our duels," spoke Pegasus. Her piercing violet eyes shifted back to the silver-haired owner of Industrial Illusions. The golden eye glittered, as his gaze was fixed on the pharaoh and Usagi. "The championship tournament will begin now," he spoke grimly, glaring more so at the pharaoh, not Usagi. Her senses detected another pulse of dark power that was vaguely familiar.

Perhaps it was connected to the hidden past - not each memory was yet retrieved. She didn't even remember the pharaoh's name. She remembered, _what _brought down the Silver Empire, but she didn't remember what was it that brought down the pharaoh. There were many parts that were still missing.

"The one who survives the tournament will be given the prize of champions. Let me give you a preview. A prize of 200 thousand dollars," announced Crockets

"T-two hundred thousand dollars?" exclaimed Jounoochi in glee, "Wait how much is that in yen?" The boy started counting on his fingers, as Mai giggled. It was nice to see Jounoochi being so positive. Last time around, after _that event_, he ended their relationship, because he was disappointed in her. Afterwards he never smiled for real. She only understood her own heart during that time, when she gave her life to protect him. Her hand came up to rest against the center of her chest. Sometimes she still felt the pain of that magic blast ripping through her chest.

"You don't get this prize just by beating the other three finalists. You have to beat Pegasus-sama, the ruler of Duelist Kingdom," continued Crockets, "To participate in the duels you must present your two cards of participation!"

Jounoochi cursed lightly.

"I wonder, who will defeat me? I'm looking forward to it," said Pegasus, his eyes were fixed on the pharaoh and Usagi. Mai frowned: so he considered Jounoochi and her an annoyance. How annoying. Well, perhaps it was for the better that he had no idea about their hidden talents.

"The first round's fight is Mutou Yugi vs. Kujaku Mai!"

* * *

"Yugi, it was my dream to fight you on this island and win," spoke Mai evenly as she gazed at the pharaoh, who briefly glanced at her.

_'Now the question is: are you looking at me, pharaoh, or are you seeing only Pegasus?'_ The pharaoh's red-eyed shifted back up at Pegasus, causing the blonde to scoff angrily. _'Hmph! Not even looking at me. Seems like your heart's already set on your duel with Pegasus. Heh…. If that's how you feel, you can't beat me. This game isn't so easy that you can win without focusing on me.'_

_'I am Sailor Tori.'_ Determination brightly shining in her eyes, Mai drew her cards, grinning widely at her opponent. He would have no chance unless he paid attention to her. "Are you ready, Yugi? Begin the duel!"

"Mai, aren't you going to use your 'aroma-tactics'?" asked the pharaoh.

Mai smirked. "No, I don't need any tricks anymore," she replied. _'All I need to beat you is my own eyes.'_

Her opponent smirked darkly. "Heh, you're no match for me." In his eyes she saw her own reflection.

_'I may be a reflection in your eyes, but there's something you can't see!'_ She drew her first card from the deck and instantly slammed it down on the terminal. "I go first! Harpy lady (1300 ATK)!" In a flurry of sparkles from the ground rose the tall red-eyed Harpy. Her first monster. Seeing the amused look the pharaoh sent her, Mai smirked and placed another card facedown. "I'm not done yet. I'm playing another card this turn."

She ended her turn and immediately the pharaoh burst in action.

"My card is, Gaia the Fierce Knight (2300 ATK)! Attack Harpy Lady!" He summoned the blue-skinned knight, who immediately with a roar charged at her monster. How pathetic… was this the power of the ancient King of Games. She remembered him being a much better strategist… to charge straight into her trap.

Mai flipped her trap card.

"Silly boy. I played a trap card. Mirror Wall." In front of the Harpy a shimmering wall made of a mirror rose, and Gaia attacked his own reflection, his body instantly covered in cracks, as his attack was reflected at him. "That's right. As soon as you attack this shimmering mirror blocks your monster." The pharaoh cursed at her words. But it was not over yet. "And as a result Gaia's attack points are cut in half." And so the attack points went down to 1150.

The blonde drew a card, "Now it's my turn. I'm playing an equipment card on my Harpy. Cyber Shield increases her attack power!" Placing the card onto the field Mai watched the golden armor appear on her Harpy Lady powering her up to 1800 ATK. Immediately the lady-duelist announced her attack, "So much for Gaia, the so-called Fierce Knight!" she taunted.

* * *

_Yugi: 1350_

_Mai: 2000_

* * *

_'Yugi, there is something you can't see,' _she gazed calmly at the distraught pharaoh.

"You fell into my trap, looks like you underestimated me! It's your turn. Don't waste it." With these words Mai finished her turn. _'Let's see if you are still that pharaoh whom I once knew. Let's see if you are still worthy of the White Moon's Queen's alliance.'_

The pharaoh placed one card face-down and summoned a monster. "I'll play one card face-down and then I play this! Rise, Summoned Skull (2500 ATK)! Attack the Harpy!" exclaimed Yami, as the Summoned Skull rose from the ground, roaring in anger, as it announced its presence. The monster charged straight at her Harpy. This was quite _pathetic. _Did he even _glance _at her field? The Mirror Wall was still active! The Summoned Skull's attack went down to 1250.

The Mirror Wall rose form the ground, shielding the Harpy Lady. "Trap Card, reactivate! You fell for it again," said Mai as the pharaoh gasped in shock, "That's right, Yugi. You should have read the fine print," she teased.

"Tch." The pharaoh looked away.

Yet Mai didn't stop her taunts. "Yes, out of the hundreds of trap cards. Mirror Wall is one of the rarest kinds. A permanent trap." She let out an exasperated sight. "This is a letdown. So this is the skill level of the great Yugi I've wanted to fight for so long. From the moment you sat down to duel, I could see you being crushed by the invisible pressure." The pharaoh glared at her. He still didn't see the point where he started loosing against her.

"When true duelists face each other, they can feel the aura of battle. But all I felt from you was irritation! You're thinking about fighting Pegasus, aren't you!" spoke Mai. _'Come on, pharaoh, you're the one who told me that a long time ago…'_

Yet, those red-eyed shifted once more to Pegasus. He was still considering her an easy useless opponent. Well, she hadn't been trained by the Senshi of the Outer Solar System and himself in her past life for nothing. "So I'm not even worth your full attention?" she asked. In his eyes she saw the answer. "You're just an arrogant boy!" exclaimed Mai. "You thought you had beat me before the duel even started. You're distracted by the thought of Pegasus watching us. Your mind is running in circles, thinking of him!"

"Say what you want after you beat me! Let's get on with the duel!" grind out the pharaoh.

_'How pathetic. Is this your limit? In my previous life, I tolerated you because you were the only one to reach **her**. Even when I betrayed you all, you still considered me a worthy opponent. And now… when I am here, battling with my heart, wishing to heighten your flight, and you're thinking about him!'_

"So now you're trying to intimidate me," taunted the blonde duelist, "Aggressive men are weak. All that anger and machismo is just a bluff to hide their weakness. I'm dead on, aren't I?"

"Shut your- !" growled the pharaoh, but she wouldn't let him interrupt her. He needed to be reminded that he couldn't take everything lightly, even if he had seen Jounoochi beat her. She too had changed. She also had a mission. She also had loyalty to the Moon. And she also had trust to regain. She couldn't run away like the weakling she had been before.

At his words she immediately replied: "That's why you fell into my trap! Just as I planned!" And finally his eyes were glaring at her angrily. He was finally getting to it…

_'Looks like you're waking up pharaoh. Let's see if you can be truly worthy of your queen. Let me see those sharp eyes, like you want to murder the enemy in front of you. Just like you looked at me back then.'_

"Here I go, Yugi! The real fight starts now!" Mai exclaimed. He just had to prove himself again.

"Bring it on, Mai!" challenged the red-eyed spirit.

"It's my turn." Mai drew a card and grinned. "Well then… instead of attacking, I'm going to play this card. Harpy's Feather Duster!"

Her opponent removed the facedown card he had set. "Hmph. My facedown card was a trap-card. If you had attacked me, you would have fallen into my trap."

Mai smirked. "I'm a cautious player. You should follow my example." She giggled, managing to aggravate the pharaoh even more.

"It's my turn! Summoned Skull goes into defense mode. Then I play Feral Imp in defense mode too." The green monster appeared next to the Summoned Skul, who also switched his position.

"Is there a way for you to win without attacking? I wonder…" murmured the Shadow Senshi, as she drew her next card. "Now back to me. I play another equipment card on my Harpy. Rose Whip!" In the clawed hands of her favorite Duel Monster appeared the long whip raising the Harpy's attack to 2100. "Prey on the Feral Imp! Punish it with your whip!" The order was made and immediately she struck. As the green imp disappeared, Mai watched her opponent widely grinning.

_'It's not over yet. My Harpy Lady combo is still not complete. Is this all you can do, my nameless ruler? Even through the haze of many lost memories I remember you were a different man.'_

"I play Saiga, defense mode!" announced Yami placing another monster on the field.

"My turn again," Mai drew a card and smirked, "With this card, my Harpy combo is 70% complete. It's not at Full Power, but it looks like it's enough to defeat you. Here it goes!" From a flurry of sparks emerged a large reddish dragon with feathers lining its ears."The ultimate servant of the Harpy Ladies! Harpie Pet Dragon! (2000 ATK)"

"This cutie is the well trained pet of the Harpies! For each Harpy on the field it gets additional 300 attack points." The dragon's attack went up to 2300. "Go Dragon! Kill the demon!" A large blat erupted from the dragon's mouth and it destroyed the Summoned Skull. Immediately afterwards the Harpy Lady destroyed Saiga as well. The pharaoh cursed.

How embarrassing. And she was supposed to serve in _his _court. Mai sighed and began speaking: "Yugi, there's something you've lost sign of. It's 'something you can show, but you can't see'. Until you find the answer, you can't defeat me!" Still the pharaoh gazed at her confused.

"When I fought, Jounoochi asked me a riddle. Yugi, this time I'm asking you."

_'Answer me King of Games. Or will you loose to me and my queen will have to fight her own father?'_

"Mai, that's the question I asked of you! Do you even know the answer yourself?" Mai looked up, where Jounoochi was shouting from the terrace, where the other observers were at..

"Yes, I do, Jounoochi. I came up with my own answer," she replied.

Jounoochi growled. "Then I'll answer in place of Yugi! Friendship of course!" he exclaimed. "The fiery spirit of friends."

Mai chuckled. Jounoochi completely ignored her telling him that she came up with her own answer. The old Jou wouldn't have ignored it. But the old Jou wouldn't be smiling so often.

"That is incorrect. My answer is not such a thing." She glanced up. _'Jounoochi, you taught me the answer twice. And the pharaoh has already taught me that once. But can he defeat me again?'_

"Your move Yugi!" said Mai.

The pharaoh drew a card and placed it on the field, immediately the purple robed loyal servant of his appeared: "Dark Magician defense mode!" He placed another facedown card and ended his turn.

_'Useless setting a trap for me. I'm one trap ahead of you!'_

"For my next card I play Shadow of Eyes!" The card appeared on the field. "If you want to know what it does just look at your magician," taunted Mai, as the effect of her card took place. The Dark Magician covered by a red aura, rose up.

"That's right, the Shadow of Eyes lures an enemy into battle. The Harpy's battle pheromones stimulates a foe's fighting instincts. Dark Magician instinctively attacks the Harpy." The blonde grinned as Dark Magician charged at Harpy, her permanent trap card coming up. "And of course attacking activates my trap card. Mirror Wall!" The Dark Magician's attack points were reduced to 1250 attack points.

"And now, I'll play this card again. Harpy's Feather duster!" she announced, placing another copy of the card on the field. The whirlwind which was so similar to her Feather Hurricane blasted off the facedown card the pharaoh placed for her on his turn.

Mai smirked. "Now, Pet Dragon! Attack once more! Death to the Dark Magician."

* * *

_Yugi: 300_

_Mai: 2000_

* * *

_'How strange, pharaoh. You lost your Dark Magician. How do you feel, now that your faithful priest isn't by your side anymore? Will you start dueling me now? Will you see me?'_

"So, Yugi… What do you think of my Harpy combo?" she asked haughtily.

"Yami! Why are you loosing? You are better than that! You can't loose! You still have to duel me!" The bright voice shouting at them interrupted whatever she wanted to say next. It was Usagi. Idly Mai noted the way Usagi addressed the pharaoh.

_'Serenity… I guess you know that he is not Yugi…'_

Darkness – how appropriate for him. From bits and pieces of my memories this is quite fitting for him.

"I can't believe Mai is this good. I was just lucky when I beat her," Jounoochi said in shock. And like always the guy was underestimating himself.

"No, Jounoochi, you didn't win by luck. Back when I fought you, I was playing as hard as I could. If you want to know the truth, when you beat me I was devastated. I went into denial. I tried to turn my eyes away from the fact that I lost. And when I confronted my real self, I understood the meaning of those words. Something you can show, but you can't see."

At her words the people on the terrace blinked in wonder, trying to comprehend the meaning behind her words, but it was the pharaoh's stance that changed. That fire was back in his eyes.

_'Ah, I see recognition in your eyes now, pharaoh. But isn't it too late. But knowing you… and her…' _Mai glanced at Usagi, who was determinedly staring at the pharaoh. From those remnants of the past, which she knew, both of them had _that ability. _To change the future. And if her feelings were right, then they would need that ability back. So perhaps just this once, she would help the pharaoh.

"Jounoochi, do you know why you went this far in the tournament?" asked the Harpy duelist, when Jounoochi didn't answer she continued: "You know your own weakness; you accept it and you try to become stronger to overcome the weakness. That is the courage of a true warrior."

She turned back to the pharaoh, who was still wavering but close to it, "Yami, it is not in victory that duelist's courage is tested. It's after they lose. And a strong heart is born only when you are prepared to lose. Do you have that courage?"

"You called me …" The way she addressed him didn't go past that piercing mind. Of course he noticed. Well, she guessed it couldn't be helped. She revealed herself as Sailor Tori, and it wouldn't be long until they would make a connection.

"Yes, I did," replied Mai evenly. The group on the terrace piped up in interest. "But I ask again. Do you have that courage? Defeat me and I shall tell you that which I can of your past," she spoke.

There was a second of hesitation, and finally he spoke: "I'm proud I got to fight you. This is where the real duel begins." He drew his card and smirked. Those blood red eyes were burning with determination, hope and belief in himself. Those bloody eyes stared at her, considering her a true opponent.

_'Yes. Those eyes. Those eyes that stopped the catastrophe from happening.' _And if only she could remember what catastrophe _exactly _it was, she could tell them perhaps more.

"Yami, even you can't turn this situation around," she goaded, but her opponent only smirked.

"My card is Brain Control!" On the field appeared the phantom image of a brain. "This allows me to brainwash one of your monsters. For the next turn it will do whatever I say. And the monster I choose, is your dragon!" The hands reached out to the dragon, as it switched to Yami's control roaring at the frightened Harpy Lady. But Mai only smirked.

"I'm sorry. But the pet dragon is the Harpies' servant. Even brainwashed it won't ever attack a Harpy," she explained.

Yami smirked and the blonde duelist gulped. This wasn't his intention?

"I know! But I won't attack the Harpy!" He took a card from his hand, placing it onto the field. "I play this card facedown, and I also play, Catapult Turtle!" The turtle appeared on the field, preparing to attack. Yami continued speaking: "The Dragon will go to the catapult, and I put it in attack mode. There's you Mirror Wall! Launch preparation complete. Lift off!" With a wild roar the dragon that had been placed onto the turtle was catapulted, and broke the Mirror Wall.

_'Yes, finally, I'm seeing you, pharaoh.'_

"Mai, in this duel we'll put our pride on the line!" he announced, "But not only did I destroy your Mirror Wall, but also half of the dragon's attack points are taken from the owner's life points."

"What, but!" Mai tried to argue, but already her life points were dropping.

"In other words. You have only 850 Lifepoints now." His crimson eyes glowed as _that ability _of his was being used. He placed another facedown card and ended his turn.

* * *

_Yugi: 300_

_Mai: 850_

* * *

"My turn!" announced Mai drawing a card. She could attack the Catapult Turtle and end the duel, but… She glanced up, becoming immediately caught in his scorching red eyes. He was _waiting _for her to attack.

_'That facedown card he placed. It scares me. Those eyes… yes, he's waiting till I attack… I won't fall to the trap.'_

"Well, I won't attack, not on this turn," she spoke relenting to her fear. "Instead I'll play this card on my harpy. Elegant Egotist!" The magic card activated creating two more Harpy Ladies on the field, smirking arrogantly over at Yami, "The Harpy Lady Sisters! Are you ready, Yami? Next turn, you'll experience the harem of hell!"

"Are you done?" asked Yami. Mai nodded. Immediately that annoying smirk turned into a full-fledged grin as he flipped his facedown card. "Mai, I'm sorry. I would have lost, if you attacked me. My facedown card is Monster Recovery! You missed your chance of winning." The card pulled back the Catapult Turtle, and her opponent reshuffled his hand.

Mai glowered at the notion of being easily pulled by a bluff. Something she should have easily recognized, having worked in the casino's, but nonetheless she flipped a stray strand of hair back, gaining her footing back quickly: "The Harpy Ladies' Trinagle attack does 2700 points of damage. And their Shadow of Eyes pheromone puts any monster in attack mode. You lose!" she said.

"Don't give up, Yami! You can do it," shouted Usagi.

"Mai, I'll play this card," he said placing a card onto the field.

"It's over, I'm going to -!" announced Mai.

Yami cut into her gloating tirade: "I play Mystical Elf in Defense mode!"

On the field the blue-skinned elf appeared in defense mode as she was praying. Mai gasped in surprise. "How can you be in defense mode!"

The pharaoh smiled. "The pheromones attract the opposite sex. It works on men, not on women."

The blonde duelist smirked. He was very stubborn. She drew a card. "You're tenacious," she congratulated. "But you struggles will end on my turn. First, I use this card to bring back one monster." The Harpy duelist placed Monster Reborn onto the field, and searched out _that _card from her Graveyard. The dragon returned! "Harpies Pet Dragon! And now that there are three harpies my dragon is even stronger." The attack points went up to 2900. "And for my next attack! Harpie Ladies! Triangle Ecstasy Spark." With a screech and a flap of their mighty wings, the Harpies formed a triangle, energy beginning to form at their claws, as a mighty energy blast decimated the Mystical Elf. "Your elf is burned to ashes!"

_'I win. You are no longer worthy of the White Moon. Against my power, you are helpless.'_

"Swords of Revealing Light!"

Mai blinked in surprise. She didn't expect him to draw the card. Well. It was useless in the end. Her Harpy combo was completel. "Fine. You have three turns. I'll wait to see if this light is the Light of Hope or the Last Sparks before I put out your warrior's fire!" she announced.

This time he didn't have that annoying smirk plastered on his face. He only regarded her with a strange determination in his eyes. "I place Kuriboh!" The small fluff-ball appeared, roaring at Harpies.

_'How futile…'_

The spirit placed another card: "Monster reborn! Gaia the Fierce Knight, rise from your grave!" The knight from the beginning of their duel materialized on the field.

Mai drew a card, and it was her favorite monster. _'One more Harpy Lady. Hmph… when the Swords will be dispelled, I'll play it, and you will loose.' _Well she couldn't do anything for the while, so she ended her turn.

"I end my turn."

Once more it was her turn. The last turn when the Swords of Revealing Light were activate. She smirked and ended her turn, as the swords dispersed. "Now, Yugi, this is it! Show me what you did with the three turns, you bought for yourself!" challenged the blonde. He drew a card, eyebrows crunched, making his face look stubborn and steadfast.

"'_What I did_', Mai?" Yami chuckled, "I gathered all the pieces for my victory. Spell card! Black Luster Ritual!" he shouted. Kuriboh and Gaia were pulled up into two pots, as an energy field formed above a Magic Circle.

"Now the Dark Ritual begins! I offer my two servants as a sacrifice! One soul to the light. One soul to the darkness! Between Light and Darkness, the Gateway to Chaos is opened! Now charge Gaia! Charge into the Black Pits of Chaos. Let it suffuse you! And be granted absolute power," shouted Yami, as from the energy field descended a black and golden clad, red-haired blue-skinned warrior with a large sword.

"Black Luster Soldier (3000 ATK)!" gloated Yami. "Now I'm ready! Chaos Blade!"

With a mighty swing of his sword, the pet dragon was defeated. Mai could only stare in shock. "The pet dragon is dead!" stated Yami.

* * *

_Yugi: 300_

_Mai: 750_

* * *

_'In just one blow…' _Mai stared in disbelief as the dragon disappeared from the field, and her Harpies stared at her in distraught, confused at their mistress's lost determination._ 'Just a difference of one turn, if I had played it before… I wouldn't have lost. With its 3000 attack points I don't have anyway left to beat it… Yugi will win next turn no matter what.'_

Her next action made everyone gasp. Her hand was placed on top of her deck. "I don't want to see my Harpies injured. I lose, Yami," she relented.

The pharaoh smiled at her with gratitude, "Mai. Thank you. You made me realize what I was about to loose sight of."

"Yami, there's no such thing, as an invincible duelist," she replied, "Everyone has some weakness in their hearts. There are two ways of losing. A loss where everything truly ends, and a loss, which is just a step on the road to victory. I will become stronger from this loss." Mai retrieved her deck starting to leave the dueling arena. She lost. The pharaoh still had _that ability. _Well… it was better to just hand over the cards of participation in the finals to Jounoochi. He still needed those. The doors to the arena closed behind her. "And I'll grab my dream in the end," she whispered to herself.

_'In gaining redemption for my actions that time…'_

* * *

"Hey, where is Jounoochi?" asked Anzu.

"I think he went to ask Yugi to loan his participation cards," replied Hotaru.

"What?"

"Well, they thought they would need only one of each, but they need both," spoke the pale girl.

"The match will begin at 11:00 sharp. The duelists that won't be at the arena by that time will be disqualified," announced Crockets. It was 10:55. Usagi cursed, as she swung over the terrace and leapt down at the dueling arena.

* * *

Jounoochi ran through the halls, desperate to find Yugi. But the castle was very large, with many crossroads, who knew what route Yugi took back to the terrace. And to make matter worse, Usagi told him that the duel would begin at 11:00 sharp. And they needed _both _cards. He ended up near an entrance to arena, cursing his luck. It was 10:58. It would take him around seven minutes to race back upstairs, if Yugi was there and back. He wouldn't make it.

The blond fell to his knees unable to believe that after all this time – after beating duelists with at least twice his experience – after getting pat all of Pegasus' traps – he's going to get disqualified because he didn't have these lousy cards. The shaking blond pound his fist into the floor.

_I'm sorry, Shizuka-chan._

Something wet fell onto his hand. He was crying.

"Get up!" shouted a voice behind him. He glanced back and there stood Mai, her arms crossed, her face set in an annoyed frown.

"You can cry after the match!" she said.

He rubbed his face, flushed at the words from the older girl, "I'm not crying! I just have something in my eye!" vehemently denying her words.

"Here, take this, you need it," the blonde duelist handed him her handkerchief, neatly folded. Idly Jounoochi noted the handkerchief was damp.

"I heard the story about your sister from Anzu-chan," said Mai smiling, "It's okay to cry for your sister," at his annoyed glance, she laughed in an annoying way, "Okay, it's okay to nosebleed. But, don't give up. You dream will come true."

She started walking away as he unfolded her handkerchief, from the folds the two cards he needed emerged.

"Mai, wait!" shouted Jounoochi, jolting up after Mai. The blonde paused in her strides.

"I don't need them anymore," she murmured.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

Mai turned around, smiling blindingly at him, a motion which warmed up his heart, "Aren't you wasting time?" she teased and cursing the loudmouth blond ran off, leaving the other blonde alone. He barely heard her reply to his question, "Idiot. It's because we're friends."

* * *

It was 10:59. Usagi shifted from one foot nervously to other. Jounoochi wasn't a contestant, so he probably went to lend those cards from Yami. But would he make it in time. Because Yugi was up on the terrace also watching the time anxiously.

The doors leading to the opposing duel stand burst open. "Okay! Let's go!" That was Jounoochi energetic yell. Usagi let out a breath of relief.

"I won't go easy on you, Jounoochi," she teased as he walked to the arena.

"Would never hope, Your Highness," he went right back at her.

Usagi's eyes lit up, "I'll make you eat dirt for mocking me."

"We'll see, princess!" he waved off her comment.

* * *

"Does he have a death wish?" muttered Hotaru watching the non-too-friendly banter going back and forth.

"I think, it's their way of testing each other," muttered the pharaoh.

"The second semi-final round: Jounoochi Katsuya versus Crawford Usagi!" announced Crockets as the clock stroke 11:00.

"Duel!" shouted the two duelists.

* * *

Usagi went first. She drew her hand and the first card and grinned. Life was good as long as the Senshi were in her deck.

"Start! I play Ocean Magician (200 ATK), attack mode!" On the field a wispy spirit of the water, bearing much resemblance to Michiru appeared, "Also, immediately I play Henshin!" A card rose in the background, it's image containing all planetary signs of the Sailor Senshi, "Thus, I summon Soldier of Oceans (1800 ATK), in stead of Ocean Magician!" The sign of Neptune lit up on the Henshin card, covering up the Ocean Magician and changing her clothes to that of the Soldier of Oceans.

Jounoochi drew a card. "Here I go! It's my turn. I play Battle Warrior! Defense mode!" The monster garbed in blue spandex appeared on his side of the field. With that his turn ended.

"Pft. Is this all Jounoochi?" asked Usagi. "Soldier of Oceans! Make him into fish food!" declared Usagi her attack, as the Soldier of Oceans raised her hands summoned a large tidal wave over the Battle Warrior decimating the other monster.

"Fish food? That's mean, Usagi-chan," whined Jounoochi playfully.

Usagi giggled. "Eh, sorry, I tend to get carried away in battles. I place one card face-down and end my turn."

The blond male smiled as he drew his card. "Continuing on, I play Giltia the Dark Knight (1850 ATK)! His 'soul spear' magic can kill you in one shot, so get ready!" On the field a purple guard magician-knight appeared.

"Soul Spear!" yelled Jounoochi, as the magician-knight released his attack at Soldier of the Oceans. The Soldier let out an anguished scream as she vanished. Usagi frowned. And she had the Wind Walker too, which meant she could have raised their attacks and defense easily.

Drawing another card, she counted the many strategies she still had left and grinned: "My turn! I summon the Wind Walker (1500 ATK) to the field, immediately turning into Soldier of Wind (2000 ATK)." From a whirlwind of wind that rose from the arena, a short haired woman grbed in a short navy dress emerged. Her eyes were proud and stubborn.

"Soldier of Wind! Attack Giltia!" declared Usagi. The Soldier summoned a sword and charged at Giltia destroying the magician-knight, as it cut it in half.

* * *

_Jounoochi: 1850_

_Usagi: 2000_

* * *

Jounoochi was frowning at her, "I play one card facedown and then I play axe raider in defense mode."

Usagi smirked. She wouldn't attack him yet. "I'll play a facedown card too, and then I place the Fire Priestess (1000 DEF) in defense mode. Immediately summoning the Soldier of Fire (1200 DEF) instead." On the field a maiden with hair made of fire, garbed in a long red dress appeared kneeling on the ground. Instead she would lure out Jounoochi to attack. And if she was right… he could also probably use that card, then it would be even more amusing.

"I play Flame Swordsman (1800 ATK) and the spell card Salamandra!" On the field the blue-clad flame warrior appeared, a flame travelling up his sword, via the effect of Salamandra (2500 ATK). Usagi smirked. Yes, she expected this. "Go Flame Swordsman, attack with the magic sword!"

The attack went towards the Soldier of the Wind, but much to his surprise the Soldier of Fire leapt up and intercepted the attack. Yet instead of being destroyed the fire circled her lovingly, as those burning red eyes mockingly gazed at her opponent.

Usagi laughed. "Useless! This is the Soldier of Fire. She'll be unharmed! This cannot work against her," she spoke. Usagi pointed at Flame Swordsman, grinning, this would take out a _large _chunk of his life points, "And that's not all, she redirects attack at you, adding her own attack points!" The Soldier of Fire clasped her hands together, the fire flowing around them and straight at Flame Swordsman, eliminating him, and damaging Jounoochi for 1700 ATK points.

* * *

_Jounoochi: 150_

_Usagi: 2000_

* * *

"Woah! Harsh. So, this is why Usagi is a blitz player," murmured Anzu, her eyes wide, as in one turn, which was Jounoochi she destroyed most of his life.

"Jounoochi, don't give up, you can still defend!" shouted Honda.

* * *

"A stop defense and I'm dead," deadpanned the blonde.

"Don't have such a card," Usagi shrugged, causing the blond boy to look at her in wonder. Oh well. It was her turn now.

"But, anyways, Soldier of Wind! Attack the Axe Raider!" shouted Usagi. The blonde Soldier ran across the field, her sword ready to slice into the Axe Raider, but then she disappeared. Usagi rubbed her eyes.

Jounoochi was holding up a card in his hand. Usagi cursed. _That _facedown card. She forgot about it in her anticipation to duel Yami. "Chasm of Spikes!" said the loudmouth.

"Oh no! My monster!" Usagi cursed. She really liked Wind Walker, and was planning to resurrect the Soldier of Oceans, but now…

"You may have taken out most of my life points, but I'm still here," Jounoochi grinned. He drew a card and smiled widely.

"First, I'll play a facedown card. It's a trap card. So watch out," gloated the loudmouth, as Usagi sweatdropped. What kind of idiot revealed his strategy? Oh right, Jounoochi. He placed another card and lizard-like armored warrior arose. "I play this in attack mode! Garoozis (1800 ATK)! Attack Soldier of Fire!" With a loud screech the lizard sliced through the Soldier of Fire.

* * *

_Jounoochi: 150_

_Usagi: 1900_

* * *

Usagi though annoyed at the notion of loosing one of her favorite cards, flipped the facedown card she set, "The difference is still great. And I activate Unity Through Battle, since you destroyed my Soldier of Fire, and bring out Soldier of Lightning (1900 ATK)!" The lightning struck down in the middle of the field, a tall green-clad warrior leapt out of it. Makoto loudly squealed, without a doubt happy to see herself.

"That card," Usagi grinned at his words. She motioned at one of the cards he set, and made a slicing motion at her neck. Lightning struck down, but nothing happened. Usagi cursed. Had she chosen the wrong one?

"The hell?"

"It's not a trap!" declared Jounoochi, flipping the card to be revealed as Monster Reborn. "Guess who I'm bringing back! The Flame Swordsman (1850 ATK)!" Usagi scoffed, it was still weak.

"Soldier of Winds! Destroy Flame Swordsman!" she declared. Immediately the sandy-haired monster obeyed her command, racing towards the warrior who prepared himself. Yet a sudden clang alerted Usagi.

She frowned. It was the other one. Kunai with a Chain! Garoozis was now equipped with it and holding Soldier of Winds, effectively cutting down her attack points to 1500 ATK, as the Flame Swordsman counter attacked. With a scream the Soldier of Winds was gone. And Garoozis was now at 2300 ATK points. Jounoochi smirked, as he immediately took over continuing his turn.

"Garoozis, attack the Soldier of Fire!" The lizard-warrior sliced through her last Soldier, leaving her field empty.

* * *

_Jounoochi: 150_

_Usagi: 950_

* * *

Usagi frowned. Well, she didn't like using her trump card that often, sicne her most devastating attacks were connected to her two favourite cards: the Soldier of Silence and Soldier of Moon. But, she guessed it couldn't be helped.

"Hmph, apparently I was going too easy on you. Well never mind. I guess I shouldn't have dragged this out. I'm sorry, but this ends now, for I cannot dawdle anymore." She placed her card on the field, and the image of the moon shimmered above them, from which, a winged woman with silver-hair bearing uncanny resemblance to her descended. "I summon the Soldier of the Moon (1500 ATK)!"

"She's weak!" exclaimed Jounoochi in disbelief.

Usagi smirked, "That's what you think, but for each soldier in the graveyard she gets 300 additional ATK and DEF points. And there are three in the graveyard." A golden crescent lit up on the Soldier of the Moon's forehead as it became powered by the fallen comrades, raising its attack to 2400 ATK."

Jounoochi glanced over at the Soldier of Lightning who was exactly 50 points more powerful than the Flame Swordsman, and the Moon Soldier… it was easy to do the math.

Usagi sighed. "It's end. Sorry." With a wave of her hand she commanded the two soldiers to attack, bringing Jounoochi's lifepoints to 0.

* * *

_Jounoochi: 0_

_Usagi: 950_

* * *

"The winner of the second round of the semi-finals is Usagi S. Crawford."

Jounoochi fell forwards leaning onto the duel terminal. Even though Mai gave him her cards. Even though Yugi gave him a starchip. Even though he tried so hard. "I'm sorry, Shizuka. I couldn't get the money for your eyes," he whispered in a shaky voice.

"Don't worry," it was Usagi. "No matter who of us wins, me or Yami, we'll give the money to you. We don't need it." She glanced up at the terrace where Yami stood, and uncertainly the blond boy glanced up. His gaze was met with those blood-red eyes, who watched him proudly.

"She's right. Jounoochi, this is what friends are for," the spirit said. Jounoochi glanced between Usagi and Jounoochi.

"You sure, guys?" he asked.

"Absolutely!" assured Usagi. The blond boy grinned happily, as he leapt onto the dueling arena, racing across, to Usagi's dueling stand, tackling the smaller girl into a bear hug.

"You're awesome!" he shouted, waving to Yami, who was watching the scene with a soft smile.

Usagi grind out angrily, "Argh! Get off, Jounoochi-kun!"

"What, I'm comforting you, since you'll loose to the great Yugi soon!" grinned Jounoochi, immediately earning a glare from Usagi, as she sucker-punched him away from her.

"Hey! I'll be the one who wins!" she declared, huffing angrily, "I'm facing father!" She turned to glare at Yami, "Not this red-eyes stupid-head!"

Everyone stared in surprise at the blonde girl. Yami stood there with a deadpan. "Stupid-head? What kind of an insult is it?" he grind out, clenching his fist, annoyed at the blonde girl.

Usagi frowned crossing her arms. "Alright! Starfish head!"

Yami growled angrily. "Better than being an odango atama, little princess!" he yelled back pointing at her.

Usagi flushed red. "You idiot!"

Whatever Yami wanted to say next, was not said, as Hotaru pushed him towards the exit. "It's time to duel, isn't it?" she laughed, guiding the red-eyed spirit away from her princess.

* * *

When he entered the dueling arena, Usagi seemed to have calmed down and Jounoochi was at the terrace already. This would probably be his hardest duel.

"May the best win. Good luck, Usa-chan," he grinned at her. The blonde duelist grinned half-heartedly back at him.

"Good luck to you too!"

"It's time to duel!"

Pegasus stood up, applauding them. "Well. It is time for the finals! The lucky winner can face me! I admire you both, I really do. For the courage to stand up against all odds."

Usagi's eyes softened, as she clutched her hand closer to her chest, as if in pain. "Father…"

Pegasus paid no heed to her. "Fight with no regrets." The princess lowered her gaze in despair and that moment Yami decided. Whatever happened he had to defeat her and face Pegasus himself. She wouldn't last it out, and if he were to cll it a shadow game?

* * *

_Y: 2000_

_U: 2000_

* * *

The cards were shuffled. Hands were drawn. And it was his turn. Drawing a card from his deck, Yami only briefly glanced at it, before summoning it. It would do well to test out the blonde. "I summon the Celtic Guardian (1400 ATK)." He declared. As expected Usagi wasn't much impressed.

She drew a card and placed one onto the field. "I place 1 card facedown and end my turn."

"Celtic Guardian, attack," declared the pharaoh. The elf charged forwards cutting the card in half, a brief flicker of a golden haired pretty woman flickers. Usagi grinned.

"If Aphrodite's Chosen is sent to the graveyard I may draw a magic card from my deck and then shuffle it. And guess which card I choose," she smirked, flipping the card. It was that blasted Henshin card which allowed a quick summon of powerful monsters to the field.

She drew another card, as expected activated the Henshin card and immediately summoned one of her Soldiers: "Summon Soldier of Lightning (1900ATK)!" The Soldier of Lightning appeared. "Attack." She sliced through the Celtic Guardian. "Place two facedown cards. End turn."

* * *

_Yugi: 1500_

_Usagi: 2000_

* * *

Idly Yami noted that she no longer dueled with a smile.

As his next card, he would: "Summon Gaia the Fierce Knight (2300ATK). Attack Soldier of Lightning." The horse of the knight neighed, as it appeared on the field and charged towards the Soldier of Lightning, effectively sending the dangerous card to the graveyard.

Usagi flipped one of the facedown cards.

"Activate trap card. Unity through battle. Summon Soldier of Love (1700 ATK)." From the deck she summoned the golden clad Soldier, which caused the Meikyuu brothers a lot of trouble.

* * *

_Yugi: 1500_

_Usagi: 1600_

* * *

They stood in silence observing each other. He could feel her magic reaching out to him, lashing out, trying to test him for weaknesses, but there would be none. Finally she drew a card.

"My turn. Activate magic card. Sword of Serenity. Soldier of Love now has 2200ATK points," the facedown card was flipped and a shining Crystal Sword appeared in the Soldier of Love's hands, raising it's attack, "I also summon the Soldier of the Moon. (1500 + 300 ATK)" Gaia was still stronger. But she didn't attack, and the Soldier of the Moon was without a doubt a bait.

The spirit chuckled as he glanced at the card he just drew. Two could play this game. "I summon the Summoned Skull (2500 ATK)." From the ground the demon rose. It roared at the two Soldiers, who glared at it defiantly. Now he only had to get rid of that annoying Soldier with the chain. "Gaia, attack Soldier of Love." Gaia charged at Soldier of Love, yet was caught by her chain.

Usagi waved at him with her finger. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Activate special effect."

The pharaoh smirked at the blonde. "Summoned Skull! Attack the Soldier of the Moon."

But she returned the smirk, "Activate trap card – Eternal Moon! I sacrifice the Soldier of the Moon, in order of save Soldier of Love!" Once more the image of the moon appeared on the field, as the attack of the Summoned Skull was redirected to the Soldier of the Moon. The Soldier disappeared without any damage to Usagi.

"Good one," Yami congratulated, as she drew his card.

Her sharp eyes shifted to him and she slammed down a card to the field. "Summon the Soldier of Death (2500 ATK)!" That same threatening Soldier he already witnessed in their duel against Meikyuu brothers appeared, "Activate magic card Silence Glaive. Attack Summoned Skull! I also place one counter on the Silence Glaive. (3100 ATK)," And as expected Usagi coupled it with that horrifying card. The Soldier leapt at the demon, slicing it in half.

* * *

_Yugi: 900_

_Usagi: 1600_

* * *

Yami grinned. They were going turn per turn. Damaging each other in turns. But it was exactly her strategy that was going to be her downfall.

"My Summoned Skull shall be avenged. Summon Curse of Dragon," which a screech the yellow dragon appeared on the field, thought Usagi seemed unimpressed, those calculating cold blue eyes were watching him intently, "Polymerization." He held up the card, grinning, as she frowned, "Dragon Knight Gaia (2600 ATK). Also, I play Brain Control," he continued setting down the same card that helped him against Mai, "and take control of Soldier of Love. Activate the Soldier's special effect! Hold down Soldier of Silence (2600 ATK)!"

Usagi frowned. "That is still not enough to defeat her with Gaia." Oh, she thought he didn't remember the Soldier of Silence's special effect, that she wasn't destroyed when attacked by same level monsters of same power.

The red-eyed duelist smirked, placing the final card. It was best to get rid of the card that could bring his destruction now. "Activate De-spell!" The Soldier of Silence gasped as her glaive disappeared (2100 ATK). Then the Dragon Knight attacked.

* * *

_Yugi: 900_

_Usagi: 1100_

* * *

Usagi growled angrily as she drew a card, barely glancing at it before slamming it down onto the field: "Activate Talisman Guardians! Summon Soldier of Wind (2500 ATK), Soldier of Oceans (1800 ATK), Soldier of Time (2000 DEF) to the field! Special effect activates immediately!" In a flurry of light and rose petals, the three Soldiers arose, powered by each other's presence. "Soldier of love! Hold down Gaia, Soldier of Wind, destroy him!" The whip of the Soldier of Love wrapped around Gaia (2100 ATK). The sandy haired Soldier cut off Gaia's head, as she streaked past the Dragon Knight. The blonde smirked at him.

* * *

_Yugi: 500_

_Usagi: 1100_

* * *

Well, her Soldier of Love was very annoying. He would just have to get rid of her. And he had just the right combo for that. "I guess I'll have to get rid of your Soldier of Love. Summon Dark Magician to the field. Play Mystical Box!" Yes, this combo would be familiar to her. The girl gasped.

"Oh no!" As the two boxes landed on top of their monsters, she didn't even stare at the other Mystical Box, where his Magician had been first. She shook her fist at him: "Urgh! You'll pay for that. But Soldier of Wind, Oceans, Time are still here. And thanks to the special effect of Unity Through Battle I bring the Soldier of Fire to the field, defense (1200 DEF)!"

But his turn wasn't over yet. First he would destroy her cannon-power. He glanced down at his card. Yes, this was good. Another Dark Magician combo. "My turn is not over yet," the pharaoh declared, "Activate Book of Secret Arts! Dark Magician's attack rises to 2800 ATK! Destroy Soldier of Wind!"

* * *

_Yugi: 500_

_Usagi: 800_

* * *

He smirked. "Place two cards face down! End turn!"

This time around she didn't set anything, only shifted her Soldier of Oceans to defense and played a magic card. "Activate Pot of Greed! End turn." It was as if she was waiting for something. It could be nothing good. But he would worry about it, when he got there. First he had to destroy the Soldier of Time.

"Dark Magician! Attack Soldier of Time!" shouted Yami. With a scream the Soldier disappeared from the blast of Dark Magic from his faithful monster.

"Wiping out my most useful monsters?" she taunted. There was something hidden behind her eyes.

"Your turn," finally conceded Yami. Immediately Usagi's grin widened and she started laughing. This didn't bode him any good.

"As you wish! Prepare for your demise! Eternal Moon's effect is resolved. I summon the Moon Princess (2500 ATK) to the field!" From the ground a winged female rose, bearing an eerie resemblance to her Princess form which he saw in her memories. Usagi slammed another card onto the terminal. "Activate magic card Silver Crystal! (3000 ATK)." In the Moon Princess's hands appeared a sparkling crystal, making her now a suitable rival for the Blue Eyes Whit Dragon. "For each soldier in the graveyard she gains additional 200ATK points," Usagi spoke. Yami frowned. That meant… "And there are, let me see: Soldier of Love, Soldier of Lightning, Soldier of Wind, Soldier of Silence. A total of 800 points!" gloated the blonde, "You're done for Yami! Moon Princess attack!" The blonde monster raised her hands with the Silver Crystal releasing a powerful blast towards his Dark Magician.

"Activate facedown trap card! Magical Hats!" The hats popped up hiding his Dark Magician.

Usagi stomped the ground in aggravation. "Urgh! That annoying thing! Attack the second one!"

Yami grinned, as one of the cards disappeared. "You missed."

"One card facedown. End turn!" She placed a card and closed her eyes, crossing her arms, assured of her own victory already.

Yami drew a card. Monster Reborn. This would work just fine. He would be able to remove her protection. "Play, Monster Reborn. Summon Summoned Skull. Play Makiu, the Magical Mist! All your defense monsters are now destroyed." As the Summoned Skull appeared on the field, a purple mist came down onto the field, and from the Summoned Skull a lightning-charge went through her defense monsters, sending them to the graveyard.

Usagi frowned. The Summoned Skull wasn't hidden by the hats. "That is still not enough. And now you are open for an attack from me!"

Yami smirked "Is that so?"

The girl wavered for a second, but then shook her head. "I remember how you fooled Mai!" At her words he grinned. "Attack, Moon Princess, destroy the Summoned Skull!"

He flipped his card.

"Activate trap card. Mirror Force! The Moon Princess is destroyed now too."

And she was one step behind him.

"Activate Ultimate Sacrifice! I send the last Soldier of my deck, the Soldier of Ice to the graveyard, and I summon Cosmos!" She flipped one of her facedown trap cards and immediately the Moon Princess disappeared, all nine planetary signs on Henshin glowing as from there emerged the silvery being that completely obliterated Keith. Her attack points and defense points were sky-high (16100 ATK).

"Well… end the battle!" he said.

Usagi just smirked: "There is nothing you can do against her! Next turn you are dead!" Well, he was right anticipating hat she would draw out Cosmos, the card which had the collective power of all Soldiers in the graveyard. This would be her downfall.

"Place one monster face-down, shift Summoned Skull to defense! Play Soul Release! I remove five of your soldiers from the graveyard." The battle stats of Sailor Cosmos went down to 6200.

"Too bad it's not enough to weaken Cosmos," she gloated. He had no more facedown cards.

"End turn!" announced Yami.

Usagi placed a card onto the field, "Activate card Stop Defense!" The Summoned Skull rose up from the ground, "Attack Summoned Skull." Cosmos leapt forwards, a powerful blast from her destroying the Summoned Skull, and just as Usagi stood there wit a satisfied expression, assured of her victory, Yami held out a card from his hand.

"Discard Kuriboh! Battle damage becomes 0!" he said.

Usagi scoffed. "You're just prolonging the inevitable."

It was hir turn again. His victory was assured. She didn't even need to draw a card. "Actually no," spoke Yami. "Haven't you wondered what that facedown monster is?" Usagi frowned.

"I've seen you duel. There's nothing that can harm me," she spoke stubbornly. Yes, he was correct. No matter what, she couldn't duel Pegasus. He would know all of her strategies for sure. It was too easy to exploit this weakness.

"Then princess… time to end this. Flip. Magician of Faith!" The card flipped, as Usagi gasped. She knew it's effect. "Activate special effect, to bring back magical card Soul Release!"

"No!" cried out the blonde rabbit. Wasting no more time he activated the magic card, removing the remaining Soldiers from the graveyard, and just incase removing the Moon Princess as well. Cosmos's attack points went down to zero. Usagi fell to her knees.

"Cosmos's attack points are now 0. Dark Magician, attack!" From within of one of remaining cards leaped out the Dark Magician, leveling his staff at the now powerless Cosmos. The flare erupted from his staff and Cosmos shattered into tiny pieces.

* * *

_Yugi: 500_

_Usagi: 0_

* * *

"I lost," whispered Usagi forlornly.

* * *

**End Chapter 6**

* * *

**Teaser:**

"What the hell is that?" yelled Usagi, as the moment the dark dome appeared over the dueling arena, darkness descended upon the castle. In the distance she could hear screams of guards, and Crockets seemed to be genuinely confused by the sudden change in her father's behavior. The door leading to the observer's terrace creaked open and a dead body fell inside, as Anzu cried out in fear.

A dark creature loomed behind.

"Youma!" hissed Makoto, moving forwards to shield the other guests of Duelist Kingdom. "Everyone! Transform! Jounoochi, Anzu, Honda, please stay back," ordered Hotaru, as she summoned her Saturn Crystal.

Everyone nodded, including Mai, who retrieved from her subspace pocket a black pen.

"Saturn Crystal Power! Make Up!" A violet mist rose from the ground encircling Hotaru, as she leapt through it, her Sailor-_fuku _replacing her clothes. Sailor Saturn grabbed the Silence Glaive, as it was summoned.

"Jupiter Crystal Power! Make Up!" Lightning circled Makoto, as it formed her uniform. Sailor Jupiter crackled with lightning as she struck her pose.

"I call upon the powers of the Shadow Realm. Harpy Lady, lend me your power! _Kkwy!_" yelled Mai. The shadows reached out to her and covered her from head to toe, flowing away, revealing Sailor Tori.

Usagi summoned the Holy Moon Chalice, nervously glancing at it. It had been so long since she last transformed. She just hoped she wasn't rusty. But the second she remembered the bodies of Minako, Ami and Mokuba on the other floor, still resting in their rooms, she closed her eyes in determination.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power! Make Up!" Her yell echoed through the hall and the familiar thrill of the energy encircled her, forming her Sailor-_fuku. _Wings erupted from her back the moment she grabbed her staff.

Speaking of her staff… it was rather weird. In fact: it looked a lot like Sailor Saturn's Glaive only instead of the sickle shaped blade at the top, a crescent shaped a pale blade rested, platinum in color.

Weird. But as confusing as it was, there was no time for the Sailor Senshi to dawdle. They had to protect their friends, and so Sailor Moon ran out from the terrace, heading towards Minako, Ami and Mokuba. Jupiter, Saturn and Tori would be enough to handle the youma that could come after their friends.

* * *

**Notes:**

**_(1) _**_– In the Season 0 Yami Bakura's eyes were violet_

**_(2) – _**_An attack of Sailor Saturn from one of Sailor Moon video games. I'm going to be using all attacks ever thought out. Video/anime/manga/PGSM continuities._

* * *

**_15/05/2011 – _**_Well, I suppose you guys expected that Usagi would loose to Yami, as that is the point of the whole anime that Yami can't loose. Really, he can't. Except when being cheated. **So let's sum it up until now:**  
Mai doesn't really like the pharaoh, because she doesn't like the fact that under the treaty she's supposed to serve him and not the Silver Empire, yet she can't help but knock some sense into him. Next chapter she'll be revealing what she knows about the past shocking the Senshi quite a bit.  
Luna has left to the Moon after Artemis informed her of his current findings. They'll be back later. _

**Next chapter:****_ Mai is Sailor Tori? Finals of Duelist Kingdom. Youma ambush. Demise of Pegasus._**

* * *

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the Duelist Kingdom.**

**So, motivate the author. 10 reviews per chapter is the minimum I demand. Nothing excuses you from not reviewing my stories if you like them. –laughs maniacally and disappears into darkness-**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	8. 7: Shattering the Darkness

**27/May/2011 – **Wohoo, the conclusion of the Duelist Kingdom is here. I'm so proud of myself. :D Now after reading this chapter, you may freely go read and explore the Acheron: Originis. From now on, I shall be varying my updates of these two stories, between Acheron: Originis and Acheron: Infinitas. So take care to read both of the stories.

**And again I say to those who haven't done so yet. To clear out questions, and other confusing moment you may find, start reading Acheron: Originis. It is the prequel to this story, set in Ancient Egypt and the Silver Millennium, there are covered many points in this story, that are mentioned. Like I said, both stories are written at the same time because it makes sense that way the most.**

* * *

Thanks to all those who reviewed, favourited, put story on alert: **angel313, SailorVmoon131185 **(and this chapter is long as well, ahahaha), **wildflower1014 **(Anzu is also a Shadow Senshi, you should read Originis story), **Cosmic-lover **(haha, well now that you're up to date with Originis, and you can understand this story better, all is good), **Kochou-hime **(Hahah, now Yami is the King of Games), **Saris Yui **(Yea, I felt sorry for Usagi too, because, she had to loose, aweee), **MissKenniGirl672 **(Yami doesn't have his own body, it's just that Yami is able to touch Usagi and only Usagi, despite being a spirit, also Usagi may use the power of the Silver Moon Crystal to give him a temporary body, but that is very vexing and lasts only for a few hours, **read Originis!**), **Anime Princess **(hohoho, like I said, who said they will know that Usagi was Yami's queen)

* * *

**_Names (first name is highlighted):_**

**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_

**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"I lost," whispered Usagi forlornly over and over again kneeling on her side of the duel arena. She never noticed father leaving. Never noticed, Yami coming over to her side of the field. She only stared blankly at her cards. How could she loose! She had to win, but she lost. And now… who was going to save her father.

"Good game. Usa-chan," came a warm voice from behind; his tone was patronizing, and as the distraught girl's head whipped up, at the unexpected proximity of his voice, she still didn't turn to face him. Usagi startled, as his warm hands encircled her. It felt warm - slowly she glanced at the terrace, wondering how her loyal Senshi responded to the scene she and Yami presented. Yet she only caught a glimpse of Makoto ushering everyone away from the stands, leaving them alone in the arena, providing some seclusion.

"The cards of the Senshi no longer help me," murmured the blonde leaning back into his embrace.

Usagi looked bitterly towards her tools. The cards seemed to no longer hold their luster. "Useless. I couldn't even beat Jounoochi in three turns like I beat everyone else," she whispered resentfully. She couldn't win the right to face her father… she couldn't talk to him, as he avoided her, and thus she couldn't save him. Useless… she was useless.

"Hey…" A warm hand wiped away a stray tear that had made its way down her cheek. She gazed up at Yami, urging the spirit to continue, their eyes meeting, for a moment forgetting all their worries, as they sunk in the depths of each other's emotions. "Maybe cards, as representation of their spirits, protected you while you had no memories, but now… you don't need them." The bloody eyed ruler paused. "Now you are a bright shining warrior yourself." And only for a mere second, a fleeting moment, it was as if there was no evil in this castle; no mission they had to fulfill; no past that hung over them akin to the Damocles Sword. For an instant they were free of all their concerns.

But then reality came crashing down on Usagi, as she realized that Yami was not a Sailor Senshi. He was not a priest. How could he cleanse the evil that took ahold of her father? The blonde started shaking - the warmth of his arms and eyes not easing her dire situation. "I should've beaten you. I should've! I am the one who can save father," whispered Usagi hysterically, grabbing the folds of his jacket.

"Usa-chan…" His eyes softened, a rare compassionate smile crossing his features.

"He is not evil! He is not! That darkness! It's controlling him!" pled the Duelist Princess, clutching desperately the blue material of his jacket. The tears had come back full-force as they made their way down her cheeks, uncontrolled. It was already the second time she cried in his presence. How unlike her, and how akin to Usagi Tsukino…

Upon the advent of her tears she was immediately crushed by his embrace; his voice became soft and tender. "Please trust me. I will save him." The red-eyed spirit pulled away, grabbing her hands – the warmth felt so comforting, if only their problems didn't exist – he looked at her beseechingly, as if trying to make her believe in him.

And her heart warmed at his words. But… how would he save him? "You will… but how? Do you have the power to cleanse a human heart?" Usagi pulled away, searchingly gazing into his eyes. He looked away and her heart sunk once more.

"Doesn't matter. I will hold on to your dream. I will save your father from the darkness." But he looked away. He wasn't so sure of it himself. If she would loose father…

And then he was eyeing her again, his crimson eyes blazing with determination and something else… something, which she couldn't quite place. The light reflected from the multiple projectors danced within them, making them eerily similar to the rubies she so often wore to the social events she attended with father. The iris that became a dark magenta near the edges, seemed to be melting into black, his eyes looking like the _Cat's Eye Nebula,_ where the Planet Mau resided, A reassuring smile fleeted across his face, as his hands clasped down on her shoulders, pulling her in closer.

"A little good luck kiss for my upcoming duel…" Usagi's eyes widened as he whispered the words heatedly, his breath burning her. Her eyes closed in anticipation, as she wondered what his kiss would be like this time. Would he be tender or would he be ferocious? All rational thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind, as he placed the very first kiss upon her cheek and then the other one, as if performing a prelude to the main act. Yes just as he was about to capture her lips - her form flattened against him, pushed against the dueling stand - a piercing voice came from behind them.

"I don't think it's the time to seduce my queen, pharaoh." The couple jumped apart. It was the blonde Harpy Duelist standing at the entrance to the Dueling Ring, irritably tapping her foot, scowling in annoyance at them.

"Mai-san…" whispered Usagi. The woman looked from her to Yami, and then grinned.

"As promised before. You won the right for some information," Usagi tensed at her words, those violet eyes so alike to Hotaru's, but so alien to her. It was like staring into the sky in a different country: the same sky, but a stranger sky nonetheless. And then she realized what Mai had just said. The Duelist Princess immediately tensed, taking a defense position, deliberating whether Hotaru's sister was an enemy as well, but before she could say anything, Mai gave a slight bow to her and spoke.

"Serenity-sama, please call the other Senshi too… including my sister." She raised her eyes to meet her gaze steadily.

Usagi lowered her hands. "Other Senshi?" dumbly repeated the girl. Suddenly it clicked in her head. It was a rather ludicrous assumption, but… it made sense. "Wait, you're a Senshi as well?"

Mai smirked. "Not quite, but close enough," she said bafflingly.

Usagi gaped at her, bewildered by her words. "Wait… if you're a Senshi, then can it be, you're Sailor Tori?" Yami startled beside her, at her implication.

"Sharp. But then again, you are the Queen of the Moon…" the way Mai said it… it was somehow… somehow apprehensive, but then the significance of her words sunk in.

Usagi gaped at the other blonde. "The Queen!" she yelped.

* * *

One, two, one, two. This was the rhythm of their feet as they moved in tact following the familiar route to their princess's room. The black-haired girl, followed by the auburn haired tall Senshi of Lightning, quickly rounded the halls of the Duelist Kingdom castle. Just now her princess had called them… Hotaru grimaced. It was almost time for Yami's and Pegasus's duel, yet Usagi summoned her and Makoto to have a chat with the spirit of the puzzle at this time. How strange: surely they had more imperative issues to worry about.

She opened the door, to Usagi's room, her gaze idly shifting from Mai to Usagi. "Usagi, you called?" And then Hotaru nearly flipped back. "Mai!" she growled under her breath. What was her sister doing here? "Usagi, what's going on?" Her sister - the blonde Harpy Duelist - hardly glimpsed at her. Typical. She couldn't even see her. The feeling of betrayal came back full force.

* * *

_"Don't cry, Taru-chan," begged a ten-year-old Mai desperately, trying to fix back the broken head of the doll, she had given to her little sister for her birthday._

_"But… but… I broke it!" sobbed Hotaru, raising her teary eyes at her older sister. She was so afraid, so afraid her sister would not talk with her anymore, not love her anymore, because she broke the doll she had given her. "Now you won't love me anymore, because I broke your gift!" Her bawling came back full force. Now… Mai would know, that it was her who broke it, not their cat. Now Mai-neechan would not be her older sister anymore._

_A soft hand settled on her forehead and the seven-year-old child looked up through tears at her sister, scared of the anger she would find there. But… instead Mai was smiling._

_"Don't worry, Taru-chan, I'll always love you," and the distraught child was pulled into a bear hug, "because you're my imouto."_

* * *

But she broke that promise. Didn't she? How cruel of her…

"Hotaru, please sit down," motioned Usagi at one of the settees. Hotaru frowned, yet followed Usagi's instruction. Makoto simply scratched her head not quite understanding the situation between her and her sister, shrugging as she sat down at one of the many chairs, around the table as well. Usagi was seated on her bed, Yami ominously looming behind her, near the wall, leaning against it. His eyes glinting like precious gemstones. The two black-clad duelists - one of the sun and skies, the other of blood and night - so similar, yet so different….

Mai released a long sigh, as she finally stood up, from the window stand where she sat. "Now that everyone has gathered… everyone awakened, I can begin. First, how much do you remember?" asked Mai.

Hotaru jumped up. "The hell does this mean? What has Mai got to do with us?" she seethed. She had a strange hunch and she didn't like it even one bit.

"Mai is Sailor Tori. Mai is also reborn from that time," Usagi calmly replied, quickly going over what Mai had told her. And each word she said cut into her heart like a knife. Her sister was a Sailor Senshi and she had been living with her all this time, yet she acted as if nothing was wrong even though she knew _who _Hotaru was as well… The black-haired girl slid back into her seat, her angry gaze focusing on Mai. The emotion of betrayal came back full force. Mai was _Sailor Tori_…

"Again I ask, how much do you remember?" repeated Mai her question, as Usagi finally insisted she continue her story.

"Nothing," responded Yami.

"Bits and pieces," muttered Usagi. She glanced out of the window at the clouds in the distance. "You said I was a queen, what does this mean?" the blonde asked, after some consideration.

Mai raised one eyebrow inquisitively, slightly confused by Usagi's question. "It means exactly what I said. After the death of your mother, after the invasion from the Dark Kingdom, and after joining the Black Moon clan to fight the usurpers for your throne you ascended as the Queen of the Silver Empire, heir to Silver Alliance, heir to the Sylvan Empire," explained the tall woman. And throughout the whole ordeal she still didn't look at her.

* * *

_It was just after the death of their parents. The two sisters stood quietly in front of the graves, holding each others' hands. Did she even cry back then? Maybe not… Maybe yes, it was just too sad for her to even remember. She only remembered the comfort Mai-neechan provided as she huddled to her, taking whatever solace she could from the familiar warmth and smell of her sister's perfume._

_They were the only two to survive that train crash. Out of two hundred people only she and Mai survived. Saved by a freak accident. Even now she could hear the whispers of their estranged family: children of the demons, cursed the train and ate the hearts of the other people. Only grandmother, only their kind grandmother looked after them. But for how long…_

_She was old… And they were still young. She was only ten, and Mai was thirteen. And yet the adults didn't even look at them… they were unwanted. Her grip tightened on Mai's hand._

_"Mai-neechan…"_

_"Yes, Taru-chan…"_

_"Promise me, you will always see me…" whispered Hotaru. Her sister nodded anxiously, gripping her hand firmly._

* * *

Didn't they see it? It was all wrong! How could Mai be part of their team? How could she be part of them, and not tell her! Hotaru sat frozen, as they languidly continued their conversation, as if nothing out of ordinary was happening.

Usagi's eyes flew wide open. "Black Moon clan?" she repeated in astonishment.

"Wait what? We remember nothing of that!" exclaimed Makoto, equally bewildered by Mai's statement. The Black Moon clan, an enemy that came before she had awoken as a Senshi. She only heard stories about them: they came from the future of Crystal Tokyo trying to get Chibi-Usa and the Silver Crystal to take over Earth.

Mai's eyebrows scrunched together. "What do you mean?" Her expression looked sincerely confused.

"Well, in our previous incarnation after the Fall of the Silver Alliance, we were reborn on Earth, and we were told that it fell after the war with the Dark Kingdom and we were all sent into the future to be reborn," said Usagi.

Mai stared at Usagi flabbergasted. "You were already once reborn? And you have been awakened?" The girl tapped her fingers in thought. "But… I don't remember any Sailor Senshi appearing," she noted crossing her arms.

Usagi simply shrugged. "That's what Anzu said as well."

Mai lowered her eyes in thought, tapping her index finger against her lips. "Did you have any major battles?"

This time Makoto replied. "Yes, we fought against Metallia and Beryl, the Black Moon clan, Death Busters, Queen Nehelenia and finally…" Her eyes closed, as she ate the last word. The uncomfortable silence fell on them. Yami and Mai shared a baffled look.

"Chaos." It was Usagi who spoke out the name of the one true enemy. Hotaru barely suppressed a sliver of fear that surrounded her soul, at the mention of the unspeakable dark being.

Mai startled, hitting over a vase as it fell over. "What?" Those violet eyes, the same as her own, were wide open in shock, as the blonde became just as pale as she was.

"Something wrong?" asked Usagi in worry.

"You said you fought Chaos! What form?" Mai demanded.

Makoto frowned, turning to their leader. "Usagi?" The blonde shifted on her spot on the bed, pulling her feet up as she tucked them beneath her, hugging the knees. At this action, Yami shifted forwards, placing a hand on Usagi's shoulder. The blonde glimpsed up at Yami, and then, as if lending his courage, turned back to them.

Slowly, carefully wording her phrases she began speaking: "Well… Chaos was using Galaxia, then she snapped out of its control, and wanted to use all the Sailor Crystals to create a powerful source of energy she could use to defeat it. But she was destroyed. And then… then I jumped into the cauldron and then I remember nothing. We ended up here," she spoke hollowly.

"Is this true?" asked Mai in a disbelieving tone. There… Hotaru had enough! What right did she have prancing in, claiming to be a Senshi, making up ridiculous history and telling them all of this! When she didn't have the right to doubt anyone! She was a liar! Liar!

"You doubt our words? Who are you to doubt us?" yelled the black–haired girl, making everyone jump. The moment she did that, she found herself staring into angry violet eyes, so akin to her own, yet filled with a fathomless darkness, so unlike to her own.

"Forgive me, Hotaru, but I remember almost _everything _from the archives," her sister's words were stingy and cold, "after all, that was what I had to learn as a noble lady of Venus, Sailor Tori and servant to the pharaoh. But…"

"A servant to me?" piped up Yami, who had been quiet all this time.

Mai nodded slowly. "Yes. It was under the treaty between the Silver Alliance and Kemet." Hotaru scowled at her sister. She ignored her once again. "Two girls from the Silver Alliance and two girls from Kemet were chosen to become the guardians of that other realm, the realm of darkness," explained Mai. She was ignoring Hotaru again… even though she made that promise.

* * *

_When did that change come? Was it when Mai was fourteen and she was only eleven? Mai had returned home, and instead of greeting her, sweeping her into a hug, playing with her, cordially greeted her and went to her room._

_She never called her Taru-chan after that._

* * *

"The Shadow Realm," Yami spoke grimly. Usagi trembled at his ominous tone.

"Yes, but still… are you sure you fought against Chaos?" repeated Mai her question.

Usagi's raised one eyebrow in question. "Yes, why do you ask?"

"My Queen," Mai began, "Queen Selenity died, when she sealed Metallia, the Dark Kingdom and sent her hurtling into the time-space continuum towards the past, to the era before a great ice age in the whole of the Solar System. She presumed that the Dark Kingdom would end up there and freeze due to the lack of living beings and lack of energy therefore on which they survived." The three Sailor Senshi froze. That was rather interesting, it was an interesting interpretation of the ex-Queen's actions.

"Ice age in the Solar System? When was that?" asked Usagi.

Makoto laughed sheepishly. "I wish Ami was here." Yet, instead of lightening the whole situation, it only brought their spirits down once more, as everyone reminded themselves of the unconscious Venus and Mercury Senshi, lying in Hotaru's and Makoto's room.

Yet Mai only continued speaking about the far-fetched history. "Queen Nehelenia was defeated during the civil war on the Moon, sealed into a parallel world where time doesn't exist, by your father. The Death Busters were the true cause of the fall down of our Kingdom."

"What?" whispered Hotaru angrily. Now this was too much. How dare Mai say that!

* * *

_"Mai-chan! Mai-chan! Let's go outside and get some ice cream!"_

_"I am busy, Hotaru."_

_"You never have time for me anymore."_

_She never answered. She never apologized. She only looked at her blankly, as if not even seeing her. As if she no longer considered herself her sister._ _With a guilty look the older blonde turned away._

* * *

"Ok, so, the Death Busters, Nehelenia followed us into the future, and maybe Queen Selenity's spell didn't quite work," offered Makoto.

Mai shook her head in disagreement. "Not exactly."

"What do you mean?" asked Hotaru threateningly. She had enough of Mai's cryptic words. Enough of her beating around the bush. The golden hues of the sundown made the harsh features of her sister softer and almost apologetic, as she looked over the three of them. "Does none of you seriously recall the history lessons of the Silver Alliance?"

"Why does it matter anyways?" hissed Hotaru. She just wished Mai would get over with it. So that they could expose her lies, and so that she wouldn't try to mess with her life anymore…

"Because the last true war, the Sailor Wars, happened more than 200 thousand years ago, when the Legendary Soldier of Light fought against Sailor Galaxia alongside with her Senshi and defeated Chaos, scattering it across the universe."

"You have to be kidding me," whispered Usagi.

"This is ridiculous," muttered Yami.

Mai glanced over at Usagi. "Have you really met Sailor Kakyuu?"

"Yes."

"The Princess Kakyuu with her three guardian Senshi, Sailor Starlights?" There was a note of excitement in her sister's voice.

"Yes, we have, what about it?" replied Usagi.

Mai suddenly flushed, as she nervously glanced down. "Well… nothing, it's just that I was always interested about her. There was not much left of the Royal Archives of the Tankei Kingdom after their world was destroyed," she trailed off. She fidgeted uncomfortably under their scrutiny, an act that Hotaru hadn't quite seen for a while from her confident and boisterous sister.

Makoto leant forwards, her emerald eyes glinting, at a sudden insight. "Wait, repeat that. The Tankei Kingdom was destroyed? When?"

Mai shrugged. "I don't quite remember the exact date. But around three thousand years before the Sylvan Empire, that had settled down in this Solar System reorganized itself as the Silver Alliance."

"By our time?"

"Well, I don't exactly know the time when Silver Millennium existed by this era's time…" There… now she had enough. How dare she presume to be able to tell them this all… even if it made sense! Mai couldn't be trusted! She knew that! She felt it! Mai… Mai… the one who couldn't even look at her after their parents' death. She was a traitor… Hotaru's fists clenched together, her nails biting into the tender flesh of her palms.

* * *

_She had only hoped that maybe it was because Mai started high school. Maybe it was because she went to work as well, so as to earn additional money for them. She had hoped it would pass._

_But it never did. Mai never played with her anymore. Mai never looked at her with warm eyes anymore. Every time she looked at her, Hotaru only saw disappointment in her eyes._

_And then… Mai hit the last nail into the coffin._

_She sent her away to a boarding school in England. Away from Japan, away from grandma, she sent her away, even as Hotaru begged and cried not to leave her alone, that she would become better, that she would do everything right this time._

* * *

"This is bullshit. I don't believe it," Hotaru snapped. For the second time this day, everyone was startled by her courtesy. "So you're saying instead of being reborn into the future, we were reborn in the past?" she sneered. "That it was not Queen Beryl who destroyed the Moon Kingdom but the Death Busters? I dropped the glaive on the Moon Kingdom when the Dark Kingdom advanced. I remember it!" exclaimed the pale girl. Her eyes boldly met those of her sister. Mai was a liar! She knew it.

"Hotaru! Chill down!" spoke Usagi. "You remember what Luna told us when she was in a trance."

"And, plus there is still the point of the Tankei Kingdom having been destroyed. Remember what Artemis told us?" noted Makoto. Hotaru glanced at them feeling betrayed. How could they believe her? Mai crossed her eyes, looking at her, as if annoyed by something.

"Fine. How was Kinmoku destroyed?" bit out the Senshi of Destruction.

Mai shrugged. "Some natural disaster. Meteor or something." Those eyes drilled into her. "Is this enough, younger sister? Or must I actually enforce you to behave properly. While Lady Mai of Venus may be your subordinate, seeming as you're the sister of the Queen, but Mai Kujaku is the older sister of Hotaru. And I've had enough of your rudeness," she scolded. There, now they caught her… she couldn't be Usagi's sister!

"Sister of Serenity? Are you insane?" shrieked the black-haired girl, as Makoto and Usagi also expressed their disbelief in violent disagreement.

* * *

_"So, how is your new school?" asked grandmother, pouring her more miso soup. Hotaru happily inhaled the familiar scent of the homemade Japanese food, something she dearly missed in England. "Did you make any new friends?" she asked, sitting down across of her, her elderly face set into a small smile._

_Hotaru grinned happily, "Yes, I did. I met four awesome girls my age. By the way, when is Mai getting home?"_

_Grandmother frowned. "You didn't know?" A feeling of dread crawled its way inside of her. "Mai is away, working on a cruise ship." Hotaru growled angrily, slamming her fists onto the table, startling her elderly grandmother._

_Did she really forget? Her birthday was in two days!_ _How cruel… her sister simply forgot it. Hotaru never opened the gift Mai sent to her. She never opened them all the next years as well._

* * *

"This is making my head hurt," groaned Yami, as he suddenly came to stand in the midst of the all, his hands held up, urging them to stay silent.

"Finally, pharaoh, I was waiting for you to speak up. You're the strategist, do something about this chaos!" berated Mai giving Hotaru an exasperated guess.

"Alright. Usagi, Hotaru, Makoto - it has been found out yesterday that the past wasn't quite all what it seemed, as my past is connected to yours. Yes?"

Hesitantly the three Solar System Senshi nodded at the duelist's words.

Yami rubbed his temples, eyes closed in frustration. "Okay, and Mai certainly speaks that I am the pharaoh, just like that spirit. And you said there are many discrepancies with the current state of events, powers and what you remember."

Hesitantly once more they nodded. He _did _have a point.

"So, let's just sit down and let Mai tell us everything." Yami crossed his arms, this time taking a seat next to Usagi, who looked bizarrely comfortable next to him. Hotaru frowned. Her princess was already attached to the spirit, leaning to him for protection and support, instead of taking the support they could offer. It hurt…

"Well, I don't quite remember _everything. _It's as if on certain events there are blocks. I don't remember some names, places and there was one more thing, which I don't remember, though I _should!_" Mai said quietly, sitting down finally.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked confused by her words.

The Harpy Duelist's eyes narrowed in anger. "The one who orchestrated the fall of the Silver Empire. I found it out just before my death… but I was too late to make it either to you or the pharaoh." Her voice fell at the end of her speech, her hands clenching together into fists, eyes darkening.

Usagi groaned: "Okay, this is getting confusing. Let's start from the beginning."

"The Sylvan Empire came to this…" began Mai.

But Makoto interrupted, "We heard that yesterday. No start from the point of Usagi and Hotaru being sisters. How did that happen?"

"King Thanatos and Queen Serenity were married," stated Mai as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And the only thing Hotaru tried to, was ignoring her words. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true. How could Mai have been there, in the past… Why did she never tell her… the comprehension of Mai's true self left a bitter taste on her lips…

"Huh?" echoed each other Makoto and Usagi.

Mai sighed. "The King of Saturn, the one who sealed Nehelenia away at the cost of his life."

"So, this means that Usagi and Hotaru were sisters in their past life," stated Yami.

"Twins…" spoke Mai.

"This is… weird," Makoto leaned back into her chair, sighing.

Yami glanced briefly at his watch. "Alright, let's keep it short. My duel will soon be starting."

Usagi laughed sheepishly. "Ah, you're right," she murmured sadly.

"Perhaps you can tell him what you know of his past," spoke Makoto.

"Like at least my name," deadpanned Yami.

Mai opened her mouth. And then closed it. "That I don't know."

Everyone looked over at her. "What?"

The blonde woman closed her eyes in frustration, rubbing her temples, as if trying to sort out through information. "I think it is due to some ritual or something, to seal away that terrible being. You did it by sealing your own soul, and so that no one could ever resurrect him your wiped your memories and all traces of your past were erased from the archives."

"A ritual?" whispered Usagi.

"Who was the enemy?" asked Yami.

Mai finally opened her eyes. She looked so tired and sad at the moment, so that for a second Hotaru regretted the way she spoke to her. "That is the one whom I don't remember. _That being." _She shivered, as she wrapped her arms around herself._ "_The only thing I remember are horrible jagged teeth and a bone-chilling feeling, as if you're staring in the face of nothingness."

"You said you were part of the treaty. What did it pertain?" Yami asked, briefly glancing at Usagi.

"Your father, the previous pharaoh and Queen Selenity made a pact. The queen chose four females with strong spirits that could be used for Shadow Duels. She looked all over the Solar System for us. I was one of the chosen. We were to become your guard after your crowning as you were the Lord of the Darkness."

"Lord of Darkness?" whispered Usagi, her eyes widening, as she tensed. Yami's hand came on top of hers.

Mai nodded. "That's why we called it Shadows. We've had enough with the Black Moon clan getting past the prejudice and the rumors that their planet was once the prison for a horrible phantom."

"The Death Phantom," whispered Usagi.

Mai turned to Usagi in puzzlement. "You're right, but you said you didn't remember."

Usagi sighed. "We fought them. Prince Diamond, the Black Moon sisters and everyone else, they were controlled by the Death Phantom."

"Reincarnation?" offered Makoto.

"You mean, after dying for the first time we travelled to the past to defeat them, so that they could be reborn, so that we would meet them in our first life?" Hotaru frowned. It was just a bit too ludicrous, though it did reinforce the presumption of the answers to the questions that plagued them. Her question left an uncomfortable silence hanging around.

"You mentioned them before, Mai," suddenly stated Usagi.

"Yes, they were firm supporters of Serenity, even after a Regent had been appointed after Selenity's death. Due to the case of conflicts between the secondary Moon Royal family and the Primary one, in which the secondary line tried to usurp the power, denied entrance into the alliance to the Black Moon clan that had been strict supporters of the Silver Alliance and aided against the war with Beryl: Prince Diamond started a war against the Regent, who had been sending Sailor Moon out to the fronts…"

"Sailor Moon? There was no Sailor Moon in the Silver Alliance," cried out Makoto.

"Yes there was! Princess Serenity became the first Sailor Moon… but then again…" Mai trailed off, as if confused by something.

"Then again, I already became Sailor Moon in the past before it," spoke Usagi. "Have I been struggling in the Silver Alliance with my Senshi powers?" Mai looked up, and shook her head.

"No, you haven't. Actually, you were very natural, which was quite strange. A Sailor Senshi to awaken for the first time has to be full-blooded native of their planet, and despite having lunarian blood as dominant, you were still a Saturnian, by all meaning you shouldn't have awakened as Sailor Moon. Unless you weren't the first Sailor Moon."

Enough was enough. This was getting just too unbelievable.

"Wait, Usagi, you believe this?" hissed Hotaru.

Usagi shrugged. "It certainly seems logical. In our previous life I had been literally struggling with each power-up, could barely use my powers outside of a transformation, but here… even without transforming I feel as powerful as my second transformation at least!"

Makoto nodded. "I actually have to agree on that. Surely you feel that way too."

Hotaru frowned, reluctantly agreeing with them. "Well, yes." And then her best friend's bright blue eyes zeroed in on her.

"Hotaru, you and your sister have some issues," spoke Usagi carefully, "but I think it would be best if you kept them outside this meeting." How cruel… how could Usagi side with Mai?

Makoto stood up, starting to pace around, alleviating the tension in the room, "So Usagi got her throne back and became the queen."

"Yes, she disbanded the council, so that no more power-hungry civilians could influence the order of the stars," replied Mai.

Makoto came to a stop. "Are you sure? That doesn't quite sound like Usagi…" Her eyes were wide at Mai's suggestion.

Hotaru smirked darkly. How naïve. Where they expecting Usagi to be the same as in their past life? "Correction, that doesn't sound like Usagi Tsukino, it does sound like Usagi Serenity Crawford," she stated.

"I'm missing the point?" Yami glanced between Makoto, Usagi and Hotaru.

"Usagi, in her past life, was a bit different. In this life she's more calculative, rational and leader material," clarified Hotaru.

"That is the way Princess Serenity, no Queen Serenity was, according to what I remember, though in her youth she exhibited mostly Lunarian traits, since she was not expected to rise as Sailor Moon, after the many tragedies that befell the Silver Alliance and the weight of the prophecy weighing down on her, she became much more a _leader _that she had been. It could be acquitted to her being part-Saturnian, as no matter how recessive the traits were, they still showed. Even her primary weapon as a Sailor Senshi, was influenced by that part of her. It was a scythe similar to Hotaru's," explained Mai.

"Really?" asked Usagi, suddenly cheered up by Mai's statement. Hotaru smiled curtly, at least one good thing was done by her sister. She eased Usagi's guilt against Luna's accusations that she was not the same Usagi anymore.

"Well," mused Makoto, "in her past life, Usagi was pretty much a simple, cheerful, all-forgiving girl. Come to think of it… it seemed as if she had no trace of the Saturnian blood. Because if you think about it, all her weapons were with priestly attributes, and attacks were strictly light-based and healing."

Their blonde leader tapped her fingers against her bedstead in deep thought. "Hm, well this would explain one thing," spoke up Usagi, as everyone's attention was caught, she continued, "Mai-san said that for a Sailor Senshi to awaken for the first time, they have to be full-blooded avatars of their planets, right? Well think about it… although we were born in the Silver Alliance, I wouldn't have been able to awaken as a Sailor Senshi –"

"And neither could have awoken Hotaru," spoke Mai.

"Huh? Weren't they other Sailor Saturn's before?" deadpanned Makoto, "What makes her different?"

"You lot were different from other Sailor Senshi. You were all using the Sailor Crystals your Sailor Power Guardians provided," clarified Mai.

"Hey, I remember the Power Guardian. She looked terrifyingly like me, when she handed me the Jupiter crystal," mused out loud Makoto.

"It was said that the Power Guardian takes the form of the first ever true Sailor Senshi awoken on that planet. And you all were, well according to what we knew back then, the first true Sailor Senshi, not just trainees, from out planets. Because in the simplified matter of speaking, all Sailor Senshi at the beginning were simply granted the powers of their planet. The Sailor Crystals of the planets never emerged, until your generation. Until Sailor Moon awoke. She was the one that awoke the Silver Crystal, it then became something she called the Silver Moon Crystal."

"An awoken Sailor Crystal…" murmured Usagi, "Where did the Silver Crystal come from to our family?" asked Usagi.

"Hmph, I think the first queen, Sarina, found it on the moon, it was handed to her by a sprite of the moon," replied Mai.

Usagi nodded thoughtfully, as if weighing different options.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Hotaru.

"Well… think about it. For the first time, the Sailor Senshi awoke two hundred thousand years ago. Back then, we struggled with each power-up, in fact, there truly was no Sailor Senshi of the Moon before, back then. Perhaps, when going back in time, fate decreed that we only get sent with the bloodline of our star seeds, and then the planets recognized us, as their first avatars, even though we were born on a different world. They tested us and eventually the Sailor Power Guardians awoke and gave us our crystals," she spoke.

"Well, it certainly seems logical. Wait, but how did they come to exist in the first place? I mean, we couldn't have awoken as Senshi in the Silver Alliance, if we awoke in the past… argh, I'm missing a vital point," growled Makoto.

"You are," deadpanned Usagi, stopping Makoto's rant. "I was at the Galaxy Cauldron. The Sailor Crystals are sent to the planet and exist continuously waiting for that one soul that is meant to access it's power," she spoke.

Hotaru's eyebrows shot up, "So, we are actually separate from our star seeds?"

"Not anymore. Ok, let me put it simply. Our souls were born for the first time in the Silver Alliance. We were initially only trainee Sailor Senshi, without the power to access the Sailor Crystals. But, we gained that power, because eventually we were sent to the past, where the planets, without a doubt recognized us as trainee Sailor Senshi and continued testing us. Back then, we gained their recognition and our Star Seeds granted the power of the Sailor Crystals evolved to what we have now. When we died our souls travelled to this point, but the Star Seeds slept and waited for us to be reborn."

Hotaru blinked, it was a rather confusing theory, but it sort of made sense. "So, while our souls travelled time, the Sailor Crystals always slept within the planets." Usagi nodded to that. "So essentially we got the Sailor Crystals in Silver Alliance, because the Sailor Crystals recognized our souls as those who had been born back then and for them was it our first or second reincarnation, wouldn't have mattered."

"That actually makes sense why you would be more powerful here," noted Mai. "For the first time of a planet's awakening it's core is closed off at first, slowly working its way to opening its power for a certain soul. Back in your previous incarnation, you were the ones who had accessed that power for the very first time, and thus you had to struggle, tame the power of your planet and Sailor Crystal. In the Silver Alliance you were already the chosen guardians, and the core was open, so despite being the first according to our records to access the Sailor Crystals, you weren't struggling. You only worked with that what you would once start," she clarified.

"So essentially, you already have two lifetimes worth of work with the planet cores at your disposal, which why we can use your powers even in your civilian forms," suggested Yami.

"I think that is correct. But I think we should now stop theorizing on the true way the events happened and hear the end of the story?" opted Usagi. "How did the Death Busters end up here, if we defeated them in the past?" asked Usagi.

At this Mai paled, looked down, and Hotaru nted how she looked everywhere except at her. "Mistress 9. She was a formidable enemy. Good thing that she never could contact her master Pharaoh 90. We had enough to deal with, when the Queen of Saturn had been taken over by her," she explained.

"You mean –" stuttered Makoto. Everyone except Yami looked at Hotaru. The black haired girl flushed, as she took a step back: "I-impossible! She inhabited me in our second reincarnation, not back then."

"Mistress 9 took control of you with the help of that other enemy, the one the pharaoh sealed," said Mai "That last war between the Empire and the Death Busters, who were allied with that other dark creature, was the thing that made an entire empire crumble and barely anything of Egypt was left. At least there were still citizens alive." Everyone felt the fathomless sorrow in her words. If she remembered it all… or even the most, if she remembered all those wars…

"That other enemy, do you remember anything about it?" Yami asked.

Mai shook her head. "Not really, but there's something nagging at me. There was something… something really important I had to tell you and my queen, about that last enemy, but…"

"But?"

Mai winced. "I died. I didn't make it. Neither to the Moon, neither to Egypt. I can only presume, since I was dead, that afterwards you conducted the ritual, as planned," she looked at Yami, then shifting over to Usagi, "and I guess Serenity sent everyone of the Silver Empire to be reborn here."

"Then why did we get sent into the past while you were sent here?" asked Hotaru.

"You met the Yugi-tachi only here?"

Usagi nodded at Mai's question.

The blonde tapped her fingers against the window stand. "Interesting. Interesting indeed."

Hotaru crossed her eyes. "Alright, Mai explain."

"For some reason your souls, the Solar Senshi, were sent to the distant past. Though, I fail to see the reason why. Perhaps your spell backfired, since you were planning to send the souls of each and every inhabitant of the Silver Empire into the future," said Mai. She paused letting the bit of information sink in.

"Perhaps… but perhaps there is another reason to it."

"Yami?" Usagi looked at Yami, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Remember that when your advisor-"

"Luna."

"When Luna was in a trance she said the planets called out to your ancestors. Perhaps they anticipated that from these lines you would be born," explained Yami.

Mai brightened suddenly. "That does make sense actually. To the first queen of a alliance, the last princess from the Kinmoku line, the one who led the remnants of those people, she said that from the White Moon line the Legendary Soldier of Light would arise again," she hastily spoke.

Hotaru glared at a spot on the rug. She still denied it all. She couldn't believe it. It was… it was… as if saying Endymion and Serenity weren't fated to be together. "It's so confusing. None of it makes any sense! And how can we even confirm that what you say is true. What if our past is the correct one?"

"We already know the past is nothing what we believed it to be," noted Usagi a deadpan expression set on her face.

"What if that is also wrong?" bit back Hotaru. It made complete sense what they spoke about. If that was correct. If it was all true, then it made perfect sense. But… but… she just didn't want to believe anything Mai was saying.

Usagi sighed in exasperation, looking around. "Is there any way to contact Luna? She's on the moon with Artemis, right?" Mai and Yami looked in puzzlement, as Makoto searched through her pockets.

"Here you go, the communicator." A pink wristwatch was handed over to Usagi, who cheered as she took it into her hands. Usagi sighed wistfully, "I missed this thing."

"What do you want to do, Usagi?" asked Yami looking confused at the watch,

Usagi grinned. "Ask Luna to check upon this story and see if she can find out more." With quick taps, she dialed a code, as everyone walked over to Usagi. Makoto and Hotaru leaned in out of interest what would Luna say to all of this, while Mai and Yami in wonder about the device having never seen it before. The small rounded screen lit up, and through static the image of Luna came to be.

_'Yes, Usagi?'_

Mai and Yami gaped at the device.

"Luna, I need you to check upon the treaty between the Moon and Egypt –" Usagi began speaking.

"Kemet, at that time," Mai corrected.

"Moon and Kemet, the Black Moon clan and… the presence of Sailor Moon," spoke Usagi. They all held their breaths waiting for Luna to blow up in a rant about how ludicrous it was, but instead…

_'Already doing that. Artemis and I are surrounded by documents, it will take us awhile to sort them out,' _calmly spoke Luna. Hotaru barely held back a gasp. _'So we will be gone for a while, but expect a full report, pri-,'_ the Mau-jin paused and quickly correct herself, _'I mean, Queen Serenity.'_

CLICK.

The communication was cut off. The three Sailor Senshi stared dumbly at the pink watch.

"She called me queen," murmured Usagi.

"That is who you are," stated Mai crossing her arms, a light smirk playing upon her lips..

Usagi sat quietly next to Yami, as everyone had no words to speak. Thinking about what Mai had revealed. Finally, Usagi carefully began forming her own words. "I see. Perhaps then this was all fated. I have an idea why we were sent to be reborn to the past, but… anyways. I believe Mai."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Our past is tied to Yami. He was the one who sacrificed his soul to seal away a dark being that awoke Mistress 9. And now we all meet on this island, my father has a Sennen Item, Mai is a Senshi –" Usagi explained.

"Two of the generals and Sailor Sennyo, one of the other three Shadow Seshi, are also here," stated Mai.

"Eh?" Makoto reeled back. Hotaru pursed her lips together. Even more unknown information. How were they supposed to make conclusions what was their mission now?

"Generals?" Usagi scratched her head.

Mai groaned. "Don't tell me you don't remember that either!"

"No."

"Jounoochi-kun and Honda-kun!" exclaimed Mai.

"What? They were also in the past?" shrieked Usagi.

Yami narrowed his eyes. "That does explain that weird happening."

Yami leant back, as he slowly recapped the events of the weird night. "Kaiba and Jounoochi fought when you were asleep after the incident with the Spirit of the Ring. Jounoochi had that strange aura about him, it was crackling in the air, and I had a strange vision about him, introducing himself as –"

"War General Jou of Jupiter…" whispered Mai her eyes wide.

Yami nodded. "Yes."

Makoto's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Jupiter?"

"He was your distant relative. Honda was a baron of Uranus, second in command after Jounoochi-kun," replied Mai, "There were two more generals. But I don't remember their names," she said.

Hotaru froze. Now she got the reason behind Mai's questioning about when they met Yugi-tachi for the first time. If Yugi, Jounoochi and Honda were also connected to their past, Mai could only mean... "And Sailor Sennyo must be…"

"Anzu," said Mai.

"Do we awaken them?" at Makoto question everyone fell into thought.

"How? We don't have memories so to say ourselves," replied Usagi.

"Still… why did we get another version of the events back then, and the spirit of your moth –" argued back Makoto.

"It was a recording, Makoto. A recording in the Eternity Main System. Not her spirit," said Usagi.

Makoto's eyes widened at the implication. "Ah… but still, why did we see the wrong past, and how did our castles end up in the past anyways. I mean…"

"Aren't the castles linked to us?" suddenly spoke Usagi.

"But still."

"Anyways, do we even tell the others about their past," Yami interrupted another discussion.

"Let's not," said Usagi.

"Why?"

Usagi shifted uncomfortably, lowering her gaze to the ground. "Yami. The cross of being a Senshi is hard to bear. Even more so when you find out you have an epic past, old obligations and loyalties, let them still enjoy their teenage years. If it comes to it, they will either awaken themselves, or if needed we shall do it. But for now… let's not."

"Back then in the end… none of us really smiled," murmured Mai.

Hotaru stilled. "Why?"

"We made too many mistakes, missteps. We lost too much. We gained too little. Our happiness lasted for a short time," whispered the Harpy Duelist. The five occupants of the room kept their silence as each was trying to sort out the conflicting information that was relayed to them.

Yami chuckled suddenly, catching everyone's attention, "Though in the end it was Usagi who found out most about her past. I only found out I sealed some unspeakable evil, was truly a pharaoh, and had a treaty with Usagi."

"Well," trailed off Makoto, "if you think about it, once we found out about our past there will be also hints to your past. And at least you know now, why you don't have any recollection of your past. It certainly doesn't explain why we were provided with faulty information."

A knock on the door interrupted whatever anyone was going to say next. The brunette girl from Domino was standing there, her hands on her hips. Hotaru swallowed uncomfortably, so she was also tied to their fate. How cruel… because a soldier's fate was always a sad one through the thorns of life. It was really better if none of them ever remembered.

"Yugi, I mean Yami, are you ready? Crockets says it's time for the last duel," chided Anzu, exasperatedly pointing at the wall clock in Usagi's room.

"We'll continue this later on, when we'll have more time," spoke Yami, as everyone stood up, the tension in the room alleviating, and instead becoming the very familiar battle thrill.

Usagi smiled, "I suggest after Luna and Artemis get back from the Moon Castle."

"Good luck, Yami. We'll be backing you up just in case," said Makoto.

Yami smiled warmly at them, but shook his head apologetically. "It will be a Shadow Game, one-on-one participation."

Mai's expression lit up suddenly in realization. "There is something about it… that Sennen Eye… that ominous feeling I get from it, it feels familiar."

"An enemy from our past?" offered Makoto.

"You think some is influencing my father? As in mind control? Something from our past?" suggested Usagi.

"Could be quite possible," murmured Hotaru, "We had enough of such enemies."

And still discussing what it could be Makoto, Usagi and Yami left. Leaving the two sisters alone in the extravagant room.

"You know, Mai…" whispered Hotaru, the presence of her friends gone and no longer placating her feelings that were in turmoil.

Mai looked up blankly. "Yes, sister?" There she went again. She… She was always so … so aggravating. How could she have even hoped for a second that her Mai-neechan would be back? The black-haired girl wanted to scream and yell at her older sister, but instead she settled for a question that bothered her. She had awoken a year ago, and Mai certainly should have noticed that, so…

Hotaru regarded Mai with an equally blank expression and asked, "Why didn't you tell me from the beginning that you were Sailor Tori?"

An eyebrow was raised in response to her question. "When you were still free of your destiny. A happy child…" Mai mused, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Hotaru growled. "Happy? You sent me away, because you couldn't bear looking at me, you were always busy…" accused the younger sister.

Mai looked away. "Didn't I try to give you everything you wanted? After mom and dad were gone…" her voice was tense and on the verge of breaking. For a second Hotaru regretted saying that, but… she quickly reminded herself, that Mai started ignoring her before getting a job and constantly being away from home.

"You just dislike me. You blame me!" blamed Hotaru.

Mai sighed softly as she finally turned to her, her eyes soft and warm, "I don't blame you." And even though Hotaru should have been happy, because this was the kind of voice, the kind of affection, she had been yearning to hear from Mai for a long while, there was still that nagging voice, that Mai had betrayed her, will betray her and couldn't be trusted.

"Then why? Why did you distance yourself from me…" cried out Hotaru.

The blonde duelist winced and turned away to face the ocean, glimmering in the sunset. "Maybe one day I will be strong enough to tell you," she spoke wistfully.

"Yet…" began Hotaru, but then… she just reminded herself, whatever she was going to say, whatever she was going to ask, Mai was likely to ignore her once more. "Never mind," she bit out and started making her way again. "Hotaru." As her sister addressed her, the pale girl stilled.

"Despite everything… I'm glad that this time around you are my sister."

And Hotaru ran away. How dare she. How dare she hurt her over and over again. She would never trust Mai. She would never accept her being a Sailor Senshi.

* * *

The dueling arena was brightly lit, though despite the lights, it seemed covered in shadows, as everything only foreboded the upcoming duel, that would decide the fate of their friends. Makoto wasn't quite sure why Yami had to specifically duel Pegasus one-on-one and they couldn't just cleanse her friend's father, and the strange rules, Mai explained about the Shadow Game rules and the penalties made barely sense to her.

Yami was already at his dueling platform, when the doors to the opposing corner flew open and Pegasus Crawford, walked in, flanked by his guards. Even without transforming and carefully looking, she could feel traces of darkness, that shouldn't have been present in a mortal man. "Yugi-boy, my prodigal duelist, I commend you for surviving the kingdom and earning the right to duel me," drawled Pegasus, with that strange accent of his, accentuating the vowels in a flashy way, "Though I feel quite annoyed at the fact that I must avenge my family's honor also in this duel. After all… family is more important than anything else."

Makoto cursed the man, as Usagi started shaking beside her, at his words. The red eyes of the pharaoh flickered to her blonde leader, and angrily turned back to the silver-haired man.

"Pegasus! Before we fight you have to promise me! Promise that if I win, you'll release grandpa's soul!" he declared, his stature suddenly much more imposing, as his magic lashed out, only causing Pegasus to grin in anticipation.

"Yes," replied Pegasus, "We have a deal, then –"

"That's not all! The souls of the Kaiba brother and Usagi's friends have to be released too!" said Yami.

Pegasus laughed mirthfully, "That's odd. Isn't Kaiba your enemy? Yet you want to save him."

"Right now, you're my only enemy." Usagi stilled at the finite reply of the pharaoh.

Pegasus glanced up at Usagi, zeroing in on them, as a twisted smirk fleeted his lips, "Is that so. Do you _really _want to make an enemy out of Usagi's father?" he turned back to Yami, expecting him to reply. But Usagi beat the bloody eyes pharaoh to that.

"My father was a kind man!" she cried out. Pegasus startled as he turned to Usagi, his eyes conflicted by sudden emotion that wasn't there. "He would've never imprisoned souls of other people, no matter who they were!" her blonde haired friend exclaimed vehemently, turning away from her father. Because of that, she missed the forlorn look upon his face. But Makoto didn't miss it. Yet as soon as it came, just as soon, a pulse of dark power from the Sennen Eye wiped it off of his face.

He scowled turning back to Yami. "Fine, Yugi-boy! I promise to release them! I'll free them, _if _you can beat me!" Pegasus sneered, "And now Yugi-boy. Let us duel!"

"It finally starts!" whispered Anzu.

Mai stared detachedly at the duel, most likely observing the lashes of magic that each emitted. "Can you feel it? Their power clashing?"

"Will Yami be alright? He's up again the Sennen Eye. That item can read minds," said Ryou worriedly.

"Don't be stupid, Yami is not going to loose!" exclaimed Jounoochi, "He'll be the real kind of this island, after he defeats Pegasus!" Makoto glanced at the blond male, wondering what he was like in his previous life. He was very loyal, boisterous and strong, even though he considered her and Luna a bit freaky, because they were inhumanly strong.

"But can he save him?" whispered Usagi, to herself. Makoto moved closer to her princess, no, her queen, whatever their past revealed, she would firmly stand by the side of her friend. She at least owed her that much. Her sharp emerald eyes shifted to Yami, who was intently staring at the downtrodden blonde rabbit. Yes, she would support Usagi, even if she chose to break away from her past destiny.

"Please present the two cards, that prove your right to challenge the king!"

Yami held up his two cards. "The Honor of The King's Right and the Honor of The King's Left!"

"Thank you." Crockets took his two cards and continued explaining the rules. "In the event that Yugi defeats the current king, Mr. Pegasus, you will be given a prize in exchange for The Honot of The King's Right hand."

"And the other card, there is no picture on that card, do you know _why, _Yugi-boy?" asked Pegasus.

"I do! A picture will emerge when I lose to you. In other words, my soul will be sealed in that card," stated Yami. And everyone gasped.

"Just right! Your courage is amazing. You stepped up to fight me knowing what awaits." The silver-haired man politely clapped, his eyes blazing with an unholy fire.

Anzu gasped. "If Yugi loses, he'll end up like Kaiba! He challenged Pegasus knowing that!"

"No… how can he do it," cried out Usagi, finally raising her gaze to glance at him, at Anzu's exclamation, "Yami!" the blonde bolted towards the edge of the balcony, Makoto barely restraining Usagi from interfering. If what Mai said, the Shadow Game had already started, and interfering on someone's behald would be considered cheating and had dire consequences.

Yami glowered at Pegasus, "I don't intend to become a part of your card collection. I am here fighting for my precious people and…" His lips turned up into a smile, as he looked up, past all of them, only at the blonde struggling in Makoto's arms. "I have a promise to fulfill." At his declaration Usagi subsided her struggling, and Makoto softly smiled. It was really cute. They way they reached out to each other, supporting one another.

"The Duelist Kingdom Championship match will now begin!" announced Crockets and the arena lit up. Both duelists paced their cards, and the anxiety filled them all. One after another Yami laid out his strategies and finally attacked with his Beaver Warrior, equipping a card to it. Yet, Pegasus anticipating his move, released a trap-card and annihilated the fruits of Yami's efforts.

"I-it's as if he _knew _what Yu-Yami's card was going to be," stuttered Anzu.

"Did his magic eye do it?" asked Jounoochi.

Mai frowned. "That's the power of the Sennen Eye."

Jounoochi, Honda, Anzu and Ryou looked inquiringly at the Harpy Duelist.

Pegasus quickly forced Yami into defense, annihilating all of his tricks and traps easily.

"Look out, Yami! Pegasus is already on the offensive!" shouted Honda.

"That lousy Pegasus, saying he never makes mistakes… who does he think he is? God or something?" growled Jounoochi, gripping the handrails of the balcony, Usagi winced at his rant. And Jounoochi didn't miss it. "Er, sorry, Usagi," he quickly apologized.

Usagi shook her head, "He's no god, but he is the creator of Duel Monsters. The god of this card game. And the Sennen Eye…"

Makoto felt cold spreading within her at Usagi's implications. "Are you saying he can't win?" she asked warily.

Usagi shook her head, "At least… if I was in Yami's shoes, I couldn't think of any way to win…"

Jounoochi crossed his arms, a large smirk upon his face, "Humph! Just you watch! Yugi has a Sennen Item too! The Sennen Puzzle! It won't loose to some dumb eye."

Makoto glanced down. So far it was not going well at all, Pegasus even had Yami's Summoned Skull and was destroying his lifepoints quickly.

Jounoochi smirked, "And there is also you on backup. If there will be something more serious going on, you can help Yami." His belief in Yami and Usagi was so unbendable, that Makoto felt even jealous for a second. Those were her lines. But… it only showed how similar they were.

But she still couldn't believe Jounoochi. Pegasus kept reading Yami's thoughts and destroyed any defense he tried to build up. The Magician Hats were on the field, hiding Yami's Dark Magician, but as Pegasus gleefully announced, he knew where he hid his Dark Magician as well.

The attack was fired. "Oh no!" cried out Anzu covering her eyes. But as the blast cleared, there was no damage to Yami.

"Wait, father missed!" exclaimed Usagi in disbelief.

Jounoochi cheered, "He failed at mind reading!"

Makoto glanced down at Yami, who was determinedly glaring at Pegasus, his violet eyes burning so unlike to his usual self… and then the lightning Senshi did a double-take. Yami had red eyes! Which meant…"Hey, it's Yugi down there!" she exclaimed.

Yugi smirked and proceeded to tell Pegasus that he switched the position of the Dark Magician by his will, as everyone gaped at the sudden appearance of the owner of the body. Quickly Yugi placed a card facedown, making his turn.

"Can you tell what card I drew and played facedown? Try to read my mind, then you'll know, right?" taunted Yugi.

Pegasus smirked. "That's right. I'll know in an instant."

Everyone tensed, wondering why the softer of the two souls in the body, was so confident in his abilities. A gasp came from Pegasus.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but _I _don't know what the card is. It's pointless to red my mind," said a lower voice. It was Yami back again. Usagi cheered, as obviously Pegasus's tactic failed. "It seems like it takes you sometime for you read your opponent's mind with you Sennen Eye I switched minds while you were playing," clarified Yami, a boasting smirk upon his face, as he finally regained his confidence. "That's the way to beat your Senne Eye! Mind Shuffle!" exclaimed the pharaoh.

"I get it. Yugi and Yami have two minds. A front and a back. Even if Pegasus reads one of them he can switch minds so the other one can fight," exclaimed Makoto.

Usagi grinned. "That's pure genius!"

"It's a two-Yugi tag team!" cheered Jounoochi.

Yami smirked. "Come on! Pegasus, it's your turn!"

Pegasus, despite seeming quite taken aback by Yami's statement, quickly regained his composure and tightly replied, "I'm surprised that you came up with something like this, but as long as toon world is on the board your monsters can't attack me."

Yet, the next turn Yugi destroyed his Toon World. Pegasus reeled back in shock, not quite believing that he was loosing, he was shaking at his side of the dueling stand, gripping his cards in anger.

"Did you see that, Ryou! Yugi beat the Sennen Eye, no problem!" cheered Anzu. Makoto grinned even though slightly uneasy, about something.

"Wonderful," cheered Honda. And then Makoto felt as if an ice cube was dropped down her shirt. A sudden feeling of dread, which started as a cold breeze, escalating into a suffocating ice-cold presence. Her gaze shifted down to the arena, where Yami was standing, his eyes narrowed, as he body was tense, and one hand held out in front. Makoto could even feel him gathering his magic, also aware of this aura. And then a violent tremor went through the castle.

"What's going on? Did you feel that just now!" exclaimed Usagi, as a pulse went through their bodies the moment after the tremor. The lights flickered on and off, as shadows wildly began dancing and a dark pressure took ahold of them.

"What's going on?" yelled Jounoochi, as he stepped away from a wall, as a shadow tried to reach out to him. Pegasus started laughing and a feeling of pure unadulterated terror passed through Makoto as she looked upon the silver-haired man's face got distorted so much she couldn't even recognize him anymore.

Usagi paled, as she whispered. "This pulse of fathomless darkness…"

Pegasus began to speak, but it wasn't his voice. "No wonder you possess a Sennen Item. It looks like I played around too much, I guess I must duel you wth the power and respect you deserve, pharaoh."

"That's not father!" cried out Usagi in distress. Makoto shivered, whatever it was that possessed Pegasus it was very evil, she could practically taste the bitter scent of the poisonous aura, barely containing down a shiver. Jounoochi, Honda, Ryou and Anzu seemed to be faring pretty badly with he ominous presence that was pushing them down, trying to grab their souls and suck out all life out of them.

"Who are you!" shouted Yami.

The dark being chuckled, and raised his hands, "Pharaoh, from here on it isn't just a battle between duelists. It's a power between Shadow Masters. From here on it's a game of darkness," announced the creature. Usagi gasped and the creature within Pegasus turned to look up at the terrace, greatly delighting in the painful expression upon Usagi's face, it chuckled and continued speaking, "I found this soul wandering around the Valley of the Kings. Easily singling him out, I let the legend trace to him."

"What legend?" shouted Yami.

"Who are you?" Hotaru growled.

But the creature's attention was upon Usagi, who looked conflicted and torn apart at the turn of events. Makoto glanced at Pegasus, and frowned, the Sennen Eye, from it came a dark presence, that and attached itself to Pegasus like a leech, pushing down his own consciousness, and at the same time leaving him to watch everything,

"Ah, Serenity. How nice to see that woeful expression on your face," the dark being licked his lips predatorily and turned back to Yami, "Pharaoh, the legend of the Shadow Monsters. The legend says that five thousand years ago, Egyptian Magicians had the power to seal monsters in stone tablets and summon them to fight battles in the pharaoh's court. The magicians eventually died out and the magic stone tablets fell asleep, deep below the Earth."

He laughed cruelly, "But the Book of Thoth, _accidentally mind you, _made it's was to his hands. And how easy it was to manipulate him, just offering him a chance to resurrect his beloved wife, so that his daughter won't be without a mother!"

Usagi gasped, "What! No one can bring back the dead unless they have the power to change fate!"

A dark smirk came upon the creature's face, "I know…" He grinned maniacally at Usagi. "But, he served my purpose well."

Usagi paled. "Let him go!" she cried out. But the creature was not listening to her, as it turned back to his opponent, as it raised his hand up and a shining image of an eleven-pointed pentagram formed above him, flying up into the depths of the castle. Nothing happened.

"This will make my victory even sweeter, pharaoh. I shall rip your soul apart! Now the Shadow Game begins!"

And then from the ceiling a dark stream of light descended encircling their arena, and then hell began.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" yelled Usagi, as the moment the dark light pillar appeared over the dueling arena, darkness descended upon the castle. In the distance she could hear screams of guards, and Crockets seemed to be genuinely confused by the sudden change in her father's behavior. The door leading to the observer's terrace creaked open and a dead body fell inside, as Anzu cried out in fear.

A dark creature loomed behind.

"Youma!" hissed Makoto, moving forwards to shield the other guests of Duelist Kingdom. "Everyone! Transform! Jounoochi, Anzu, Honda, please stay back," ordered Hotaru, as she summoned her Saturn Crystal.

Everyone nodded, including Mai, who retrieved from her subspace pocket a black pen.

"Saturn Crystal Power! Make Up!" A violet mist rose from the ground encircling Hotaru, as she leapt through it, her Sailor-_fuku _replacing her clothes. Sailor Saturn grabbed the Silence Glaive, as it was summoned.

"Jupiter Crystal Power! Make Up!" Lightning circled Makoto, as it formed her uniform. Sailor Jupiter crackled with lightning as she struck her pose.

"I call upon the powers of the Shadow Realm. Harpy Lady, lend me your power! _Kkwy!_" yelled Mai. The shadows reached out to her and covered her from head to toe, flowing away, revealing Sailor Tori.

Usagi summoned the Holy Moon Chalice, nervously glancing at it. It had been so long since she last transformed. She just hoped she wasn't rusty. But the second she remembered the bodies of Minako, Ami and Mokuba on the other floor, still resting in their rooms, she closed her eyes in determination.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power! Make Up!" Her yell echoed through the hall and the familiar thrill of the energy encircled her, forming her Sailor-_fuku. _Wings erupted from her back the moment she grabbed her staff.

Speaking of her staff… it was rather weird. In fact: it looked a lot like Sailor Saturn's Glaive only instead of the sickle shaped blade at the top, a crescent shaped a pale blade rested, platinum in color.

Weird. But as confusing as it was, there was no time for the Sailor Senshi to dawdle. They had to protect their friends, and so Sailor Moon ran out from the terrace, heading towards Minako, Ami and Mokuba. Jupiter, Saturn and Tori would be enough to handle the youma that could come after their friends.

* * *

"The hell is going on?" shouted Sailor Tori as soared around the pillar of darkness, flinging her Rose Whip wildly around, slashing through the blood-thirsty demons.

Sailor Saturn twirled her glaive executing her _Press Crusher _attack, burning through the demons, that were attracted by Jounoochi, Anzu, Ryou and Honda huddled behind her and Sailor Jupiter. The violet-clad Senshi yelled back over the sounds of attacks, "I don't know, it seems as if somewhere a portal to the netherworld is open."

Sailor Jupiter growled charging forward, jumping and performing a double axel, "Jupiter Double Axel!" she bellowed, her boots covered in lightning as she destroyed two more demons. "How the hell did Pegasus manage that? Is that the power of the Shadows?" she cried out.

"Feather Tornado!" shouted the Shadow Senshi, "Well technically you can use enough power to rip open a hole in the time-space fabric, but that would require much more magic than we felt." The woman trailed off.

"Get to the point!" growled Sailor Saturn. The castle shook once more, as Anzu screamed in terror as another demon burst out from the wall charging towards her, its claws extended. Just as it was about to reach her, it collapsed to the ground, Sailor Tori bent behind it, her claws covered in its purplish blood.

"Meaning that he should have known how to open that portal," the blonde Senshi said.

The black-haired Sailor Senshi froze. "But that knowledge should be lost."

"No youma should know how to do it, which rules out that it possessed Pegasus," shouted Sailor Jupiter as the three Sailor Senshi took a defensive formation against the surrounding them demons.

"Who knew that information?" asked Sailor Saturn, she leapt forwards, slashing furiously through a battalion of demons.

"Chaos for sure," replied Sailor Tori, cutting another demon apart.

Sailor Jupiter punched through another demon. "Gone for more than 200 thousand years. I don't think anyone else should have that knowledge."

"High-lever demons. Generals of Chaos."

* * *

Eternal Sailor Moon panted as she cut with her weapon through another demon. It was sheer luck that they had placed Mokuba, to the same room as Minako and Ami. At least she could protect them all. Another horde of demons filed through the entrance, and the blonde Sailor Senshi cursed. There was just too many of them! She had to use that attack, but it…

No, she shook her head. She would try it just once more. "Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!" yelled out Sailor Moon raising her scythe. But nothing came. "Damnit!"

Well she would just have to rely on her old attacks. As two of them lunged forwards, the winged hero held out her hand, "Moon Tiara Action!" The glowing discus formed in her hand, flying towards her enemies, with a flick of her wrists the discus changed its direction, slashing through the two of them and taking out one more. "Moon Twilight Flash!" The soldier raised her hand to her forehead, a bright energy pulse dusting the foremost demons, but behind them there were even more.

Once more she tried her strongest attack, failing again. 'Why doesn't it work…' The Sailor Senshi whirled her scythe around, cutting through the midsection of two advancing enemies, delighting in how familiar the motion seemed.

And then, as she became one with the deadly blade, the words came to her mind.

"Moon Death Elimination!" shouted Sailor Moon, her glaive raised high and then lowered, as a bright flash, that covered all area and grew in size engulfed the area, burning everything to dust.

* * *

Just as Yami was about to make his final attack, destroying the creature in front of him, the darkness of the parallel realm in which they were, was pierced by a blinding silvery light, that upon touching the menacing evil being in front of him caused it to burn.

'Usagi…' his mind helpfully supplied.

A reverent smile made its way to his face. She was truly amazing. And Yami decreed his final attack.

* * *

The bright light came out of nowhere, surging through them and energizing, while the dark aura was lifted and all demons were burnt away, the mutilated bodies were healed and color returned to the fallen guards of the Duelist Kingdom Castle.

"The hell was that?" asked Jupiter looking around.

Jounoochi pointed towards the dark pillar of light. "Look, it's disappearing!"

"The darkness is dissipating!" murmured Sailor Tori, and sure enough the suffocating darkness was as if lifted by the silvery light.

Anzu jumped up happily. "Yeah! Yugi won!"

"That's great!" exclaimed Ryou.

* * *

Yami carefully observed the kneeling man on the other side. He was staring blankly at his cards, blood trailing down the side of his face, from where the Sennen Eye was. He no longer felt that terrifying fear, he felt for the other creature. Yet…

"Am I speaking now to Pegasus or that other being?" asked the pharaoh.

It was a faint whisper he heard, but nonetheless he made it out. "Yugi-boy…"

"Pegasus…" murmured Yami. His eyes turned serious as he glared at the defeated opponent. "Do you admit defeat? Immediately release the souls of grandpa, Minako, Ami and the Kaiba brother!"

The man stood up. "Yes… I will keep my promise," he murmured, raising his hand, and from his pocket several rays of light came out and soared into different directions. And now it was time for the Penalty game… Yami froze, how could he deal the man a penalty game. He had promised Usagi to save him, but… her father had committed all those heinous acts, even before that creature possessed him.

"My guards have already prepared the money. You don't have to worry."

Yami raised his hand, ready to fulfill his role in punishing the criminal.

"Using the power of the Sennen Eye I have looked at all kinds of human hearts. But never have I seen a person with the heart of two persons. It is because you have the power of a Sennen Item?" The bloody eyed duelist froze.

He shook his head and replied: "I don't know. I don't have the power of a Sennen Item. I only rely on my will and the support from the other me…"

Pegasus glanced up, seemingly surprised by his statement. "You don't know? The evil meaning the Sennen Items hide?" implored the older man.

"Why do you hold a Sennen Item? Where did you get it? What's your purpose? Before I decide your fate, to send you to hell or redeem your soul, can you tell me?" demanded the pharaoh.

Pegasus sighed, as he took out a card, and flipped it. "Before, I explain, I first have to mention this lady…" Upon the card was the portrait of Usagi's mother. Behind him, the doors opened, and Sailor Moon came in, Pegasus didn't notice her presence. She raised her finger gingerly to her lips, as his eyes met hers.

"Cyndia. That was that woman's name. Fifteen years ago… she died when she was only nineteen, the one I loved… leaving me and little Usagi all alone," murmured Pegasus desolately.

"I met her, when we were just seven. At that time my father was a capitalist that operated casions in Las Vegas, every night he would take my hand and lead me through all kinds of social events… there I met my father's friends, the daughter of another capitalist, Cyndia," Pegasus closed his eyes in pain.

"Not long afterwards, we fell in love. The two of us told each other our dreams… I said I'd become the most famous artist, travelling to foreign countries, we promised to be with each other for eternity. Yet our happiness didn't last." Behind him Sailor Moon looked down, and not even Yami's friends on the terrace made a sound as Pegasus continued his story of fall.

"Not long after our marriage, after Usagi had been born, Cyndia died because of a sickness. A few months passed, my heart was like a blank sheet of canvas. When I had feeling again, I visited Egypt, because I had started to become interested in the afterlife of Ancient Egypt. Five hundred miles away from the Nile is the Valley of the Kings. That's where the ancient kings' tombs are… the City of the Dead."

A pitiful sigh escaped the depths of the man's chest, as he forced himself to continue. "The vast yellow desert reflected my heart\s image, but there was nothing there that could fill my blank canvas. I couldn't even bare to look at Usagi… she reminded me so much of Cyndia. So I searched for something. Something important… someway to feel again." Sailor Moon clenched her fists at his admission.

"That place had a small village. There I saw a man captured by the Tomb Guardians and ready to be killed for stealing a gold trinket. I begged them to forgive him, offered money, but a young man appeared, his eyes gave out a weird light. His gaze was cold, making one shiver and on his chest was a golden Ankh."

"It's Shadi!" breathed out the red-eyed spirit.

"Shadi! You know that person? I don't even know his name!" noted Pegasus, his eyes narrowing.

"Please… continue," beseeched Yami.

"He told me that the man stole a treasure form a sacred place. He told me to leave, that there was no way for me to find a picture. Told me… to return home to my daughter and start healing my pain from loosing a beloved one there… But all I cared about, was the fact that he saw through my heart. I cared a lot about what the young man said and I followed them."

"They went into an ordinary house, but the house had a secret tunnel that led to an underground temple. A temple that couldn't be seen from outside at all. The man demanded for him to put on the Sennen Ring, and I came to witness an unbelievable scene. When the thief put on the ring, his eyes suddenly burned and his mouth spat out fire. That man became fire and died in just a short time."

The silver-haired man's voice became darker. "_The Sennen Items test out human souls. Unworthy ones will be burned. _That's what he said. He said that the Sennen Items are drawn to each other, and when the time came, they will draw together as one. Back to the Pharaoh's Memory Tablet. There were a few holes on the stone but there were only three items on it. The Scale, the Ring and the Eye. Then I became the Sennen Eye's holder. I was captured and brought to Shadi. He said that if I wanted to leave the Sacred Place, I'd have to become the holder of a Sennen Item. He said that if it accepts me, it will grant me one wish. That the doors of the dead would open and would see the one I love again."

"I hoped what he told me was the truth, so I accepted the challenge. Then a miracle happened, light it surrounded me. A door appeared and there was the image I wanted. It was a short reunion, then I accepted the Sennen Eye," he ended rant, voice barely stronger than a whisper.

"Alright, that I understand, but why the souls? Why Kaiba and his corporation?" questioned Yami.

Pegasus replied, "The image system. The power needed to resurrect someone."

"How stupid…" muttered Sailor Moon and Pegasus whipped around.

He froze taking in her attire, "Usa… gi…"

"No one can bring back the dead," her eyes closed in pain, the girl whispered.

"I know…" replied Pegasus, guilt creeping into his voice.

Sailor Moon lashed out forwards, slapping her father, "Why?" she demanded, furious blue eyes boring into his.

"I just wanted to see us all happy together." Pegasus turned away in shame.

"Why would you do it…" whispered Sailor Moon.

"That's the thing… I don't know, the moment I saw Kaiba's system, I knew I had to have it. But Kaiba is too proud to give it to me. So I did what I felt was right to get her back… and with each day I descended more and more into darkness…"

"Each day there was a voice whispering to me that I wasn't doing enough to bring her back. Each day there was a voice whispering to me that I would never see my family happy again. Each day the voices whispered that I wouldn't be able to keep you as well. That once upon a time you would leave me."

Yami glanced down at his hands. Could he now perform the penalty? Would he do it? He glanced up at Sailor Moon, who looked on the verge of breaking apart. Her father's love for her mother almost tore apart so many families, and now if he would execute the man, the cheerful blonde would be left all alone.

"Father…" Pegasus fell to his knees, at her accusatory gaze.

"Forgive me…" he whispered all over again, as she leant down to embrace the wrecked man into a hug. Softly she was whispering words to him, as if to calm him down and Yami felt a soft, warm light pulsating from the ethereal warrior, the calm and eternal light cleansing all of his worries, and healing the torn aura in the man."

And then Yami decided.

"The darkness in the Sennen Eye is gone. Consider yourself given another chance," he declared. The Crawford family sharply turned to him.

"I don't deserve this," whispered Pegasus, not looking neither at him or Usagi in the eyes.

"You are given another chance to be with your daughter. Shadi told you the right thing. The only place to heal is home, with your family," replied Yami calmly. Yes, this was the way. He couldn't let the darkness inside of him control him, like it took ahold of Pegasus. He had to be stronger than that. He had to tame the furious beasts within himself.

"Yet…"

"I promised Usagi that I would save you. I always keep my promises," spoke Yami finitely. A grateful smile made its way to Sailor Moon's lips.

"I don't deserve pity. I don't deserve compassion. My sins are too great," repeated the silver-haired man. Yes… why should he have punished him, when on the release of the hold of that creature, the man came face to face with everything he committed. Yami was sure, it was for the best.

"Father!" softly said Usagi. "Everyone deserves a second chance. You can still redeem yourself. Please…" A warm light formed at her chest, where a golden brooch was seated. The tender light healed his tired body, and upon reaching Pegasus, it erased the tear and wear the dark creature inflicted upon his soul and body.

"This light… soft warm light," murmured the creator of Duel Monsters, as his eyes closed. His breathing was steady and not as shallow as it had been before. Sailor Moon effortlessly lifted the man, once more surprising Yami not only by the strength of her soul but also by the strength of her body.

He glanced at the man in her arms, he seemed peaceful and calm, and nothing even spoke of the events that had transpired with the unlucky man. "What did you do?"

"I erased the last traces of the possession," murmured Usagi.

"So he was possessed indeed," mused Yami. He was correct in his decision not to punish Pegasus. Besides… if he ever made her cry… for the first time feeling shy, the newly crowned King of Games glanced at the Moon warrior, who was tenderly observing the face of her father, a happy smile upon her lips.

"Whatever possessed him used his own desires and dreams to twist his personality. While I can erase the negative energy, it will take awhile to heal his heart. No matter what he did, he still remembers clearly and now with an untainted heart. It must be horrible," she explained, tears forming in her eyes.

"Usagi…" called out Yami.

Sailor Moon finally met his gaze. "Thank you, Yami. I will come to you later to organize you a ride back home… for now, I must take my father to rest," she said, cutting off whatever he wanted to say to her, as she turned and slowly, carefully, so as not to shake the sleeping man in her arms.

She only briefly stopped at the doors.

"Thank you again…"

* * *

_Pegasus drifted through the realm of dreams, a silvery horse, with a golden horn, carrying him through the lush green forest, where ruins of pristine white color were illuminated by the soft glow of the moon._

Invited by the dream that imprisons the long night  
As no one's in the room, I pray to the moon

_The wind in this strange place brought echoes of a long forgotten song in an ancient language. He jumped down from the stead that carried him, as they arrived by a lake. _

Like a flickering light,  
"If only the ache in my heart would also become small," I muttered

_He walked up to the lake, his reflection shifting to memories of his earlier life. Flash. He placed Usagi in the arms of the green-haired matron, he hired to look after her as he went away to travel the world, in search of a way to quell his hurting heart._

I walk, groping in the dawn  
Bathed in light, your body is scorched in my memory  
Even now, you are here

_Flash. Faint sobs were heard from Usagi's room. He glanced at his watch. It was way past 1AM. What was wrong? As he came in, Usagi was sitting on her bed bawling her eyes out. And even though he comforted his little angel, she never failed to notice the way he barely could look at her. Because she was always so akin to Cyndia, and it was always brought up the bittersweet memories of his wife._

"Etched into my heart, your dim white memory is like ice..."  
Perhaps you were close by but left nothing behind, nothing but shadows

_Flash. Was it when the dreams that had started scaring her each night, when she never came to him, instead running to her matron, that he realized that eventually leave him too? Was it then that the darkness started taking hold of him… He sent away the matron and created Usagi her own set of cards. Was it then that his little angel started wearing her hair in those two rabbit-like buns, streamers falling from them. She didn't remind him **that **much of Cyndia anymore._

Those shadows and those little sounds don't form into anything, quietly disappearing

* * *

_Flash. Though he still remembers the betrayed face she showed, when he decided she would go to an all-girls boarding school. But, even though he was afraid to loose her, he was even more afraid of her reminding him of Cyndia, finding out about his plans and condemning him for that._

With an innocent face, you smile at me  
If those casual gestures were seen now  
They'd have shown courage  
Your kindness

_Flash. "All life is sacred," those were Cyndia's words. And he… Pegasus fell to his knees, in front of the placid surface of the lake in this dream world. He had sought to bring her back, by going against what she believed in. He betrayed not only Usagi, not only his own morale, he betrayed Cyndia as well._

I realized the things I was praying for were transient  
I can't do anything for you

_Another chance. He had another chance. He would make it all alright. The other Yugi, what was it that Usagi called him, Yami had awoken a new part of his daughter. He had seen it, when he looked into the mind of that strange warrior of light. It was that sensation of her energy, akin to waves slowly washing over you, that filled him with serenity, it was that which reminded that he had that what he had craved all along. Cyndia lived along with them all this time, in his heart, in Usagi's heart, but he had chosen to ignore._

"Etched into my heart, your dim white memory is like ice..."  
Perhaps you were close by but left nothing behind, nothing but shadows

_The winged-horse, a golden-horned Pegasus, the silver-haired man smiled ironically, neighed suddenly. Pegasus whirled around, and there standing next to the winged-creature stood Cyndia smiling softly at him._

_"Cyndia!" he whispered. The golden-haired woman giggled, as she floated over, embracing him._

_"I'll always be in your hearts," she murmured and vanished in a flurry of sparks, easing at least part of the guilt he now carried._

Those shadows and those little sounds don't form into anything, quietly disappearing  
In the long night, you also cannot be seen... 

_'Danger…' the words echoed in his mind and the wonderful dream, that had started healing him, was eaten up by the darkness._

* * *

The soft wind ruffled the wild spikes of his hair. The red-eyed spirit stood on the edge of the balcony watching the ocean, as it was relented its hold on the last glimmer of the dying sun within it, becoming dark and ominous.

'The mystery of the Sennen Items… after Pegasus saw Shadi in the Valley of the Kinds he acquired his Sennen Eye. And signed the horrible contract. There are seven Sennen Items, they should be placed in the King's Memory Tablet in Cairo. My Sennen Puzzle belongs there too…'

* * *

Anzu looked concerned at the form of the other Yugi looming outside on the balcony, in his thoughts.

"After Yami defeated Pegasus, he doesn't seem to be very lively… he didn't even punish Pegasus," spoke Jounoochi, as he glanced out of the window.

"Although Yami can't forgive Pegasus, after hearing his story, he pitied him. He also promised Usagi to save him. And that dark being…" mentioned Ryou.

"For Pegasus the death of his love was the beginning of his tragedy…" whispered Anzu. But she could easily guess why Yami seemed to shaken by the story. The Sennen Item held an evil entity. Yami only appeared in Yugi's heart because of the Sennen Puzzle. When he heard what Pegasus said, it must have felt horrible. Yami didn't give Pegasus a game punishment this time. The brunette, guessed that it was also because he felt the second he dealt Pegasus the punishment, he would be proving Pegasus's words right.

"Ah! Mokuba woke up!" exclaimed Ryou. And Anzu sighed from relief, they had been very worried when Mokuba hadn't woken up, like the two other girls, who were Usagi's friends. One was a timid, soft-spoken blue-haired, blue-eyed girl, who according to Usagi was a genius and very cool. The other one was a boisterous blonde, with serious eyes, who immediately demanded that Makoto would brief her about whatever happened. The girls had long since left, Usagi had gone off to free Seto Kaiba, and the other girls were probably talking about the events of the Duelist Kingdom and… whatever else heroes did, after a victory.

Mokuba opened his eyes and scrambled backwards in fear.

"Poor kid, he's still so scared…" trailed off Anzu, sympathetically observing the shivering kid. A second later recognition alighted within his eyes, and the cheeky brat was himself once again,

"You, you guys…"

Jounoochi slapped the small black-haired kid on the back, "Yugi defeated Pegasus already, Mokuba!"

Honda grinned proudly. "Kaiba Corp. is now safe, so you don't have to worry."

"Yugi…" murmured Mokuba. It was then that Yami finally decided to stop being a loner and join their company.

A smile made its way upon his face, "That was only due to the strength I received from everyone." But Anzu knew… he wasn't quite speaking the truth. The way his eyes lit up, as he looked at them, and at the same time quite didn't… he was thinking about the golden haired Princess of the Games.

Mokuba bolted up from his bed. "No, I can't lie here any longer! I have to go back home and take care of big brother!" He pushed at Jounoochi, who caught him in his mid-jump. "Get out of my way!"

"Mokuba!" called out Yami, "Kaiba is on this island."

"Eh!" The child froze. "Where! Where is big brother?"

* * *

Soft echoes of heels clicking against the stone floor was getting closer and closer, as he sat alone in his cell, locked away from the world and Mokuba. How was his brother? Was he safe? Did Yugi manage to protect him? He wouldn't have left him alone? Would he have? A pair of feet clad in black high-heels stopped in front of the door to his cell and with a clang of keys, the door opened.

Seto looked up.

"You…"

Usagi Serenity Crawford softly, apologetically smiled at him. Her face looked pained.

"We meet again… Seto-san…" she said looking away.

"Usagi…" Despite the words he had spoken to Yami back then, it really had been all a bluff. After all… he knew himself that Usagi Serenity Crawford was nothing like her father. His glance drifted down to his deck holster which was now empty, as he remembered a certain Blue Eyes White Dragon.

She stepped away from the door, as he sat up, noting the strain in his muscles, how long had he sat here without moving?

"It's all over now. My father has been freed from the dark influence. You are Mokuba are free…"

Seto froze, looking over at Usagi. She didn't dare to meet his eyes, her blue eyes staring at a spot in front of her. "Dark influence?" he repeated dumbly. He and Mokuba were free? So Yugi won. Mokuba!

"Where is Mokuba…"

She motioned him to follow. "Come with me, I'm off to them now," Seto nodded curtly, as the girl turned around, her hands gripping the handle of a very familiar metallic trunk. She paused, sheepishly laughing. "Ah, please take this back." The trunk was pushed on to him, and the familiar weight was back in his hands. The girl took off without another words, navigating through the labyrinth of the dungeons in the castle.

"You might wonder why my father wanted to take over Kaiba Corporation so much. The answer are these duel disks."

"Humph." Though he didn't quite show it, he had expected it. Of course, everyone wanted his inventions, wanted to use him. A typical corporate takeover. He wondered what was going to happen to her now… if the other Yugi had executed the same punishment on Pegasus.

Usagi continued speaking, her voice trembling as she went on: "Kaiba Corporation deceloped these duel disks enabling to make lifelike holograms of our cards. The battle disks' world breaking technology could have made his dream of making pictures three-dimensional. He wanted to acquire the technology to make the image in this card come to life…"

She turned around, her eyes guarded, as she held up an image, that held a striking resemblance to her. They were at the exit from the dungeon.

"That's…"

Usagi interrupted him quickly. "Mother. I think he was only chasing the illusion of the past. Of his love. That's all." She turned around, intent to go on further, yet halting her step. "And I'm sorry…"

Seto glared at the wall in front of him. She didn't have to apologize. It wasn't her fault anyways. "What for? It was your father."

"Because I couldn't save him before it all happened."

* * *

A polite knock came from the door, and Yami immediately bolted up to open the door. He recognized the presence. It could have been only her. No one else had that exhilarating energy, which could lift his spirits at any time.

"Excuse the interruption…" she began. Yami was about to reply, that she could never interrupt, but of course his loudmouth friend had to interrupt them.

"Usagi-chan! Mokuba woke up!" shouted Jounoochi.

Usagi was suddenly pushed away, and a familiar brunet made past him into the room."Mokuba!" "Seto!" The two brothers embraced, and idly Yami noted how the apparition of Seto's inner being, the Chibi-Kaiba, the one who had to collect the puzzle of his heart, completed the last piece, vanishing away into the night. Seto Kaiba had finished his Penalty Game.

Usagi shifted nervously at the entrance, obviously not wishing to enter, and so he joined her outside. She glanced bashfully at him, "This is your prize money." The blonde thrust out her hand, which held an envelope.

"Usagi…" he grabbed her hand, not minding that the envelope got scrunched. He, he had to talk to her, before he left. Yet, she pulled her hand away, looking away from him before he sent the hurt glance at her. Why was she ignoring him? She didn't even meet his gaze.

"I-" stuttered Usagi, "I- I have to arrange a helicopter for you," she murmured and ran off. The pharaoh sighed, baffled by her contradicting behavior. A sigh came from him, he would talk to her, before he left then.

The King of Games reentered the room, where everyone was celebrating, the two Kaiuba brother standing on the balcony, talking about something.

"Jounoochi," the blond male turned to him, "take it. It's for you!" The envelope was handed over to him.

"Thanks, Yami!" grinned Jounoochi, and asked once more. "Can I really keep this money?"

"Of course," assured the spirit.

"I'm indebted to you, Yami," laughed Jounoochi.

* * *

The dark spirit of the ring, chuckled as he licked the last remnants of the blood away from the Sennen Eye, as he loomed over the prone form of Pegasus J. Crawford. He glanced at the card of Cyndia Crawford, disgust evident in his eyes.

"You can bring that card of yours with you to hell…" he sneered, "You are such a failure, even when I leant you the power, you still failed. Pesky Sailor Senshi, pesky pharaoh, I will beat you all…"

* * *

Everyone was gathered outside, as Minako Aino, the boisterous blonde had come over to say that the helicopter was waiting for them.

"You have to be good to Mokuba, Kaiba," said Yugi smiling over to the taller brunette.

A small smirk, almost a smile, crossed the CEO's face as he replied: "Yugi, you saved Mokuba, I owe you for that. However please tell the other Yugi, out battle has not ended."

"Everyone, I prepared a helicopter for you. I suppose, Seto-san shall be the pilot." The group turned around and there was Usagi standing, dangling the ignition keys from her finger. She tossed them over to the tall youth, who easily caught it and went off towards the helicopter, motioning Mokuba to follow.

"Usagi! You're not coming with us," asked Anzu.

Usagi shook her head. "Well… I don't really live in Tokyo… and I need to help father… in his redemption." Her gaze shifted back to the castle, as she sighed forlornly, lowering her eyes once more. Only to see Mokuba standing there, his hands on his hips, as he observed her scrutinizing her every feature.

"You're the friends of those girls?" he asked.

Usagi raised one eyebrow. "Girls? Minako, Ami and Hotaru?"

At that Mokuba smiled, nodding. "Yes!"

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

Mokuba flashed her a toothy grin. "Tell them thanks." He ran off to Seto, not minding in the least the confused glances of the Yugi-tachi. Everyone quickly said their goodbyes as Seto once more demanded they leave now, as he had a company to manage. Yugi cast a last glance to the still figure of one Usagi Crawford, smiling softly, as the familiar presence of the spirit within his puzzle, floated off, without a doubt to tell in privacy farewell to her.

* * *

His friends had disappeared from sight, when he came out.

"Usagi…"

"Yami…"

The two stood a foot apart, searching for the right words yet, finding it hard to speak at all. Finally Usagi lunged forwards, hugging his form. The spirit delighted in the touch of the moon warrior. The only one who could touch him, even in his spirit form. One of the few who could still see him, even when he was just_ a parasite _in Yugi's body.

Usagi pulled away slightly, not letting go, "I'll see you soon. Our destinies are intertwined. We will meet again," she spoke seriously, her eyes alight with some inner determination, about…. Well, he didn't know, what was it… but… he didn't mind having to figure her out.

He took her hands and planted soft kisses, all over her knuckles, delighting in the cute way she blushed at his actions. "I'm sure of that. It was a pleasure meeting you, Queen of the White Moon," purred the pharaoh. Usagi smiled and grabbed his face, pulling him down, in what he thought would be a kiss, but instead, she planted a soft peck on his forehead, a sudden sensation of her peculiar energy surging through his soul.

"What happened?" asked Yami.

Usagi winked, "I gave you a goodbye gift. If you search your soul you will find it. The Moonlight Rêve."

Yami blinked. "For what…" What was the Moonlight Rêve anyways? And, if she gave it to him, where was it?

Usagi laughed, as she pulled away, "To keep contact." The blonde girl winked at him, as she turned to leave. "Goodbye, Yami."

The red-eyed man growled. She would not be leaving just like that. He still had his prize to claim. After all, didn't the King of Games deserve a prize he desired?

"Wait." He hand latched onto hers, as he twirled her around, pulling her up against his chest.

Immediately the blonde flushed a furious red color. "Yami-kun…"

A dark smirk came to his lips, as he dipped his head to hers… "This is a proper goodbye." And for a brief moment, he allowed himself to indulge in a soft kiss, yet passionate kiss. For a second she was frozen under his ministrations, but her arms wrapped around his neck, as she replied eagerly. The pull on his soul alerted him, that his friends had already boarded the helicopter and were leaving. Soon enough the Sennen Puzzle would call him back. He gave her lips another playful nip, and was whisked away by the magic of the puzzle.

As his form disappeared Usagi wrapped her arms around her, delighting in the sheer energy high she got from it. She couldn't help but to give in to him every time. "I'm supposed to be in love with Endymion, yet why does my heart yearn for you. Why do I allow you to kiss me…" whispered the girl. But of course, she already knew what she had decided. She would not stop whatever was forming between them, because of the past destiny. This was what she had decided, when she created the Moonlight Rêve for him. Something, even he as a spirit, dwelling within the Puzzle could use.

* * *

Mai kicked a rock.

"Those idiots! I don't have a boat, so how am I supposed to get back home?" Of course the blonde had left the castle, before Jounoochi or anyone else could question her about her involvement with the Sailor Senshi, but then she had realized that she had no way to get back home. And here she was. Stuck on the island. There were no boats and no way to get home.

The wind picked up, a chopper made its way past her the rhythmic beating of its wings catching her attention. The blonde glanced up and low and behold, the Yugi-tachi was there. A vein popped up on her head. They were leaving without her!

* * *

Jounoochi laughed as Mokuba once more teased Honda, as they were finally making their way off the island. It was only three days, but so much had happened. He froze.

"Hey! Let me on!" Jounoochi glanced down, quite surprised to see Mai running after them. A vision of Mai dressed in that revealing Harpy outfit flashed in front of his eyes, as he spaced out for a moment, his lecherous mind bringing him away to the land of forbidden passion.

Smack! A tiny pebble imbedded itself into his forehead. "Jounoochi! You idiot, throw down the ladder!" bellowed Mai. And the blonde pushed the ladder out, not quite noticing his leg was stuck in it, as he fell out himself, dangling upside down, while Mai hung on to ladder way below him giggling at his misfortune. And then, the blonde loudmouth realized he was hanging several feet above the ground upside down.

"Help!"

* * *

Usagi frowned as she entered her father's bedchambers. It was very dark here. Strange, didn't she leave the lights on when she leaving him here.

"Father, are you here?" she asked. He should have woken up from his trip to the Dream World, where Helios reigned. Her hand automatically searched out the flip. Click. The lights went on and collapsed on the ground in front of the bed was her beloved father. His left eyes was sunken in, the Sennen Eye absent, as blood poured freely from there.

"What the…" Immediately the girl was at his bed, carefully, cradling him in her arms. "Father! Father! Can you hear me?"

A sudden voice alarmed her. "The Sennen Eye was stolen." She whipped her head around, holding her hand out at the intruder, who could have been the attacker of her father, but instead she saw that man, the one whom Yami called Shadi.

"You're that guy! Shadi!" growled the blonde. If he hadn't given her father the Sennen Eye, this tragedy wouldn't have happened.

Yet he didn't seem to mind her fury. "The old enemy of the pharaoh has arisen again, and it is collecting the Item to defeat you and the pharaoh," spoke the robed man cryptically, reminding her of Setsuna.

"The old enemy?" repeated Usagi, "The one of whom Mai-san spoke?"

"Yes…" His form began disappearing into the ground in front of her eyes.

Usagi wanted to bolt up after him, but didn't dare to, as that could have hurt her father even more. "Wait! Who is it? How do we defeat it? What will happen to my father?" cried out the girl. Yet Shadi didn't pay her any attention, as his form vanished in the ripples on the ground, his presence disappearing from the castle.

A warm hand reached out to her cheek. "Usagi… I'm sorry…" whispered Pegasus, his was strained and breathing shallow, as he struggled to sit up.

"Don't speak… father… rest…" she implored.

"I just wanted you to meet your mother also…" he murmured as his eyes closed, and for a second, she felt the touch of death.

"Father!" shouted Usagi. "Father? Father!" She called out to him frantically, pouring her healing energy into his body, begging him to open his eyes.

* * *

**End Chapter 7**

_End Duelist Kingdom Arc_

* * *

**27/May/2011 – **Tadaa! :D I'm ingenious. And horribly cruel. If you people are familiar with the manga, then you should know that actually Pegasus died. Mwhahahahahahaha. Now you're probably wondering when will Usagi meet Yami. What will happen to Pegasus? Did he die, will Usagi be now an antagonistic superhero? Will she be angsty Sasuke? Why is Seto so lenient towards Usagi? :D

**Next chapter: **The arrival of the third War General and the three Outer Senshi.

* * *

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the Duelist Kingdom.**

**So, motivate the author. 10 reviews per chapter is the minimum I demand. Nothing excuses you from not reviewing my stories if you like them. –laughs maniacally and disappears into darkness-**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	9. 8: Of Wargenerals and Businessmen

**03/June/2011 – **Ok, so start of a new sub-arc in the Part I of Acheron: Infinitas. This time around, Setsuna, Haruka and Michiru arrive. Also, we get to see what the hell has Mamoru been up to. And a certain Saturnian Wargeneral, by the name of Ryuji Otogi (Duke Devlin), makes his debut.

**And again I say to those who haven't done so yet. To clear out questions, and other confusing moment you may find, start reading Acheron: Originis. It is the prequel to this story, set in Ancient Egypt and the Silver Millennium, there are covered many points in this story, that are mentioned. Like I said, both stories are written at the same time because it makes sense that way the most.**

* * *

Thanks to all those who reviewed, favourited, put story on alert: S**ailorVmoon131185 **(The fate of Pegasus shall be revealed in this chapter, but even if he's dead, Usagi wouldn't have teleported over to Yami, because she is a Sailor Senshi and can deal with shit), **Sesshy's Mistress **(And before you jump at me for updating this story, know that I had it almost complete before agreeing to your deal yesterday), **Umiki **(Here you go, since you enoyied it that much :D ), **Cosmic-lover **(No, Mai and Usagi re not third cousins twice removed, they are not related in anyways, on the bottom of the story, I will put up an explanation how the story went), **Kochou-hime **(Hahah, now Yami is the King of Games), , **Anime Princess **(no repetitions that I promise you), **wildflower1014 **(Pegasus died? Or did he?), **CosmosAngel1 **(-picks up hanging mouth-. You have no idea how much this means to me. Your stories always inspired me and made me write better. Probably one of the reasons I made this story have two revamps, in my different writing stages. This is finally the last and the final revamp. Beta is kinda hard for me to find, and English is not my first language. I searched for that point with Usagi and Hotaru and didn't find it. Re-read the chapter like five times. I'm glad you liked the story, and by the way, **update you own! **That little teaser you sent has me sitting on the edge of my seat.)

* * *

**_Names (first name is highlighted):_**

**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_

_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_

**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_

**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_

**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_

**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_

**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_

**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_

_Sarutawari (Kemo)_

_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f i n i t a s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Hotaru quietly closed the door behind her, as she snuck in. It has been a week since the end of the Duelist Kingdom. With everything that had happened, she had stayed over at Usagi's place only to support her. Her best friend was really depressed…

"Hotaru-chan? Where were you so long?" came a stern voice behind her. Hotaru jumped. She knew there was something she forgot to do, when she had decided to stay for a while with Usagi. Hotaru turned around sheepishly laughing, as her grandma stood behind, wearing a pink apron, arms crossed on her chest.

"Grandma, I was at Usagi's place," she replied nervously, wondering what her grandma would say to that. But the elderly woman hugged her dearly.

"Oh, I was so worried when Mai-chan returned and she was alone. She said you'd return in a couple days, but it's been a week. You should have called," admonished the elderly woman.

Hotaru sighed as her grandmother let her go and she took off her shoes.

"You see, Usagi's dad…" Hotaru took in a deep breath. "He had a bad accident and is in a coma. I was very worried for Usagi, that's why I forgot to call."

Her grandmother gasped in shock. "How horrible!" she exclaimed. "What will happen to Usagi now?"

Hotaru glared at a single spot on the carpet. "I don't know. I've arrived today to Tokyo with Usagi. She said she had to see her lawyer, since Pegasus in incapacitated and she is underage, I'm afraid she'll have to have at least a social worker assigned to check up on her."

Her grandmother's eyes softened, as she lay a hand on her shoulder. "Well, come on, don't stand here in front of the entrance. We should go and drink some tea. Perhaps we can bake a cake for Usagi-chan later," kindly spoke the woman. Hotaru smiled softly and nodded.

* * *

The familiar cityscape of Tokyo sped past her, as Usagi Serenity Crawford detachedly stared out of the black tinted window of her black limousine. One of her hands was idly stroking a very familiar black ribbon tie, that she now wore each day. Her _father's _ribbon tie never left its place at her neck these days. After that fateful day she took upon ordering Crockets to order her a uniform made: a jacket, pleated skirt made of the same material as her father's most beloved suits, reddish pink identical in color to the color of the suit he wore when they spoke last, a white ruffled shirt which was tied at the neck with that same black ribbon. Black thigh high stockings and red high heels completed this getup.

"Ms. Crawford, you have an appointment with Chikuzen Oka (1) at two o'clock in the headquarters of Industrial Illusions," said Crockets glancing into the rearview mirror. Usagi looked up, one eyebrow raised. She had never heard that name.

"Who is Chikuzen Oka?"

Crockets frowned: "He came into the company briefly before the Duelist Kingdom, apparently he was part of the Big 5 that had previously worked for Seto Kaiba." Usagi's eyes narrowed at his statement.

"Chikuzen Oka is an expert lawyer and the legal advisor for Industrial Illusions," clarified the butler of the Crawford family.

"Does the remaining Big 5 work for Industrial Illusions also?" asked the blonde. Crockets nodded hesitantly. Usagi sighed and continued: "That is quite bad. I was hoping to get Seto Kaiba to agree for partnership between our two companies," she murmured.

"Pardon me, Miss Crawford," hesitantly spoke Crockets, "But what makes you sure that Seto Kaiba would be willing to consider a partnership with Industrial Illusions after _latest events._"

Usagi smirked. She had a plan for that. Both of the companies stocks had gone down, due to the fact that, not only Seto Kaiba had been defeated by Yugi Mutou, a boy previously unknown to anyone, her father had been defeated by Yugi as well, at his own game, and she had also been defeated. That little fact still left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she knew better than to let that fact hinder her. It would be a profitable union, and with her father in his current state (_her heart jolted in pain) _she had little doubts that Seto would reject her offer.

"Are they still working for Seto Kaiba?" asked Usagi.

Crockets startled visibly at her direct question. "I think, yes, they are."

Usagi scoffed at the obvious blunder of the Big 5, and reached for her telephone. She had a few calls to make.

* * *

The last week had been very uneventful. Yugi and his friends had returned to Domino-cho and since then he had no contact from Usagi or her Senshi. Yami heaved another sigh. Yugi was probably wondering, slightly worried, about him. The amnesiac spirit spent most of his time scouring the labyrinths of his soul room, searching for any clue about himself. But the doors to which he was drawn the most were all locked. Was there truly no way for him to regain his memories? Would he be lost forever to himself due to the ritual?

He cast a sideways glance to the Moonlight Reve (2). It was a small confusing item, no taller than a foot. On an elaborate golden column ending with a small round pedestal was a silver sphere embellished with shining crystals, topped with an elaborately carved golden crescent on top. So far he had no messages from Usagi and, frankly, Yami didn't even know how to use it.

What was she doing right now? How was she faring? Did she even remember him? Did she think of him they way he thought of her? When would they meet again?

Yami sighed wistfully once more, as he fell back, crossing his hands behind his head, blankly observing the numerous hieroglyphics that were carved into the ceilings, branching out to the walls and everything around him.

_'Who am I? And what is our connection?'_

* * *

Seto Kaiba frowned as he glanced over t the phone for the umpteenth time. The phone-call had come from a very unexpected person, revealing to him some rather interesting information. He had no idea those morons had enough guts to try and fool him. And to top it all off, they even joined Pegasus's company, while still working in his own. This was rather haughty of them to believe they could get away with it.

"Big brother, you called?" Seto looked up – it was Mokuba. Seto smirked. Well he was not one to overlook a good bit of information, especially if it concerned the wellbeing of his company, they could have been very well leaking information to Industrial Illusions for months.

"Yes, could you prepare five copies of termination notices addressed to Chikuzen Oka, Konosuke Oshita (3), Shuzo Otaki (4), Soichiro Ota (5) and Kogoro Daimon (6)."

Mokuba gaped at his brother, who turned around glaring at the vast cityscape presented to him from his view on top of the Kaiba Corporation headquarters. But it was one other particular skyscraper, which had his attention. Looming over the neighboring buildings on the other end of the city was the headquarters of Industrial Illusions.

_'Well… just perhaps…'_

Seto smirked and turned back to his desk, briefly glancing at a stack of documents, he had been sent from the new CEO of Industrial Illusions. Usagi Serenity Crawford was someone whose invitation he would perhaps humor.

* * *

Ryuji Otogi warily observed the boisterous loudmouth blond that screwed around with his friends. How utterly ridiculous! Was this the way the head of the army of the Silver Empire should behave? It was embarrassing! Jou, or Katsuya Jounoochi as he was called in this life, was supposed to be searching for their Queen and the Sailor Senshi, yet instead he was frolicking around with his second-in-command, Honda; acting like a complete idiot. How unacceptable!

Ryuji glared as Jounoochi and Honda gave out another annoying laugh, both of them not giving him even a second glance. Was he really the only one to remember his past life? Ryuji grimaced once more, as Jounoochi and Honda started fighting with brooms, and shaking his head, the tall black-haired boy went off towards the school principal's office. He would just have to remind General Jou and General Honda of the fact that they were the Generals of the Silver Empire, and with that came a certain responsibility.

* * *

"What! What proof do you have that this document is legal?" cried out Usagi slamming her fists onto the table. How dare they! How dare they even try to suggest that her father would have written a document like that? He would never write a will that the Big 5 would watch over her, if he was ever incapacitated and she was underage.

"I have to agree with Ms. Crawford. Your story seems to be farfetched," spoke Crockets, glaring over at Sarutawari, who was standing beside the Big 5 seated at the other end of the table.

Chikuzen Oka smirked and pushed over the smooth glass surface of the table a document holder. The leather case came to a stop before Usagi, who immediately started reviewing the paper. It certainly seemed real, but she knew better than that.

"It's fake," she decreed, slamming down the aggravating pieces of paper.

"And how would you know? According to the law you are now our ward, and whatever makes you believe that we are such _fiends _as you describe us?" replied Kogoro Daimon, his beady black eyes boring into her.

The blonde CEO of Industrial Illusions snorted in a very unladylike fashion. "Because I know my father, he would have never entrusted his precious daughter to such men as you," she stated, closing her eyes in deliberation. When she opened them, the cold stormy blue eyes were burning with a carefully hidden fury. These guys were one of those, who only harvested the influence that the demon which had possessed her father. She could see their souls.

"I know your hearts," she whispered angrily, startling the five men.

"It doesn't matter, you are now our legal ward, and thus you will have to do as we, your legal guardians, demand," scoffed Konosuke Oshita. Usagi zeroed in her glare at the elderly man, wondering how she would get out of this one. It had been briefly helpful that the incident between Seto Kaiba and her father didn't get out, but she seriously doubted that she alone could overthrow politically these old sly foxes.

Idly she wondered whether going Sailor Moon on them and dusting them was a reasonable idea, but quickly admonished herself for even daring to think about using her powers on regular mortals. No… she needed to find the real will of her father. But they would surely interfere.

"So, Miss Usagi, will we come to an agreement or will we be seeing each other in court?" sneered Shuzo Otaki, the mustached accountant, who without a doubt held in his hands all the information about KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions.

"We will be seeing in court. Unless you file your notifications of resigning from your posts in Industrial Illusions, going back to KaibaCorp to receive notifications about the termination of your other contracts."

Usagi's head whipped around to face the entrance to the conference room. She knew that voice too well. It couldn't be. But who else would have such an impeccable timing.

"It's been awhile, Usagi-joou (7)," a wide warm smile was awarded to her from the tanned, garnet-eyed Senshi of Time.

"Who are you to intrude on our meeting?" demanded Chikuzen Oka, suspiciously eyeing the tall green-haired woman. Setsuna smiled darkly, as she turned her attention towards the Big 5.

"Who am I?" she mused out loud in a childish way. "Perhaps I am the real guardian of Usagi Serenity Crawford in case something happened to Pegasus?" she grinned viciously, as she pulled out a document holder, sending it flying towards Oka, who immediately grabbed the files and reviewed them, gong paler with each minute.

"Ah, I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Setsuna-san," respectfully spoke Crockets, as he went over to the older woman, taking her fashionable black coat and hanging it, as he guided her over to Usagi's side of the table.

"You know each other?" breathed out the blonde in shock.

"Don't you remember Miss Setsuna?" asked Crockets, slightly confused at Usagi's behavior. The blonde promptly shook her head, as Setsuna only smiled mysteriously. The time Senshi turned back towards the Big 5, as she regarded them with a threatening aura about her.

"I am Setsuna Meiou. I had been Usagi-joou's matron for the years when Pegasus-san travelled around the world. I am also one of his childhood friends, and although we haven't seen each other in quite a long while, it had been decided that should anything happen with him, I would watch over Usagi and guide her in leading Industrial Illusions," evenly spoke Setsuna, as she calmly sipped on the tea, Crockets had served her the moment she took her seat beside Usagi.

"Why hadn't we ever heard about it?" stuttered Soichiro Ota, a middle-aged man, who apparently was the technical expert at KaibaCorp.

Setsuna smirked ever so lightly, "Because business is business and family is family. Pegasus-san never mixed personal affairs with professional ones. That's why you never knew that he had a will made. I also have a recording and proper papers about my guardianship of Usagi-joou," she explained, setting down the teacup. "So what will it be, gentlemen? Shall you proceed to provide me with your notifications of leaving our respected company, or shall we meet in court?" Chikuzen Oka opened his mouth to argue, but a heated glare from Setsuna stopped him from saying whatever he wanted.

"Trust me," warned Setsuna, "if you try to mess with Usagi-joou's life, there will be nothing left of you after we are finished with you." She made a dismissive wave with her hand, towards the Big 5, signaling them that there would be no further arguments and that they were to leave. As the five men were leaving, purple from rage and shaking in anger, only then Usagi finally closed her mouth, which had been hanging open the whole time.

"Setsuna-san? We were searching for you, why did you show up only now?" she asked.

The tanned woman smiled in her ever-cryptic way and instead of replying, turned towards Sarutawari, who was still there.

"Oh, Sarutawari-san, I expect your notice of termination as well," she remarked. The tall guard had nothing to say to that, as he swayed out of the room, looking remarkably shocked by the imposing woman.

* * *

The bell rang for the third time. Hotaru groaned as she removed the cooking gloves she wore, running out of the kitchen, wiping her hands against the frilly apron she wore. Who could it be? They rarely had visitors, and one of the girls would have announced their arrival.

"I'm coming!" she yelled as the bell rang again. The pale girl skipped to the door, swinging it open: immediately a familiar fragrance of roses invaded her senses.

"Long time no see, Hotaru-chan," greeted her a warm voice. Hotaru stared flabbergasted at the ever elegant and mature, Sailor Senshi of Uranus and Neptune. The pair was standing at her door, dressed in matching lavender suits, both wearing sunglasses, holding briefcases.

Hotaru couldn't even find the words to speak.

"So, what are you cooking, firefly?" teased Haruka, as she wiped off a bit of dough from the black-haired girl's nose.

"Eh… cake…" deadpanned Hotaru still not quite believing, that she was seeing her fellow Sailor Senshi - those who had been her foster family in her previous life.

"So, are you inviting us in or will we stand here the whole day?" light-heartedly teased Michiru, earning a laugh from Haruka. At this, finally Hotaru's brain caught up with her feelings, and the girl flung herself at the two taller women, embracing them, as she laughed in joy.

* * *

Sugoroku Mutou sighed in weariness as he brushed away the dirt and grime that had been gathered in front of his shop.

"Good morning, Grandpa Mutou!" exclaimed a cheerful voice. Sugoroku turned around waving in greeting to the brunette friend of Yugi's.

"Good morning, Anzu." The elderly man turned around and bellowed, "Yugi! Anzu is here!" Immediately from the Kame Game shop came several crashes and thumping sounds, as Yugi hurried downstairs eager to meet his childhood friend and crush. Sugoroku winced, he would have more cleaning up to do later. Yugi sped out from the building huffing as he came.

"Thanks for waiting, Anzu," he breathed out. Anzu blinked as she observed the regular rope Yugi wore with the Puzzle, replaced by a chain instead.

"A chain?" The brunette raised an eyebrow, as Yugi blushed hastily explaining.

"Well, this is the most important link between me and Yami. So I decided to keep on the safe side," replied the amethyst-eyed boy.

Anzu smiled softly, "How is he?" she asked.

Yugi frowned. It had been actually a couple days since Yami had spoken to him. The spirit was eerily solemn and thoughtful after the Duelist Kingdom, and sometimes during the link they shared, Yugi felt some faint traces of frustration. After that time in the Duelist Kingdom, they realized that they didn't take any contacts from Usagi or her friends, even though they promised to meet again. Shyly Yugi glanced up at Anzu, who was standing there with a concerned face, hands clasped together. No, it wouldn't do well to tell Anzu, that Yami was moody because Usagi still hadn't contacted them.

The youth laughed sheepishly. "Well, I think he is exploring his soul room searching for clues about his past. That's what he's been up to for the last week," he replied relieved when Anzu took that for an answer, dropping the issue altogether.

* * *

They met at the same place they have been meeting each Friday. But instead of running to hug him, she stood still a foot away from him; her heart was hurting and conflicted. Adonis's last words still echoed in her mind. Her love would be doomed for all eternity, and she would always choose duty over love. How ironic that in her previous life she didn't care about that much, but this time around… this time around it was just too cruel.

"Mi-chan?" Her heart trembled as he took a step closer, as she involuntarily took one back. She couldn't let him get close to her anymore. She was not his intended. Why couldn't they have met after they had remembered their past?

The blonde beauty carefully gathered her determination, clutching at it desperately, as she prepared herself to say the words that would mean the end to her happiness.

"I'm sorry, but… but we can't meet anymore." He froze.

"Why do you say so?" he asked. Minako still didn't meet his gaze. Because once she would glance into his midnight blue eyes she would forget all reason. She would give up on her mission and duty and run away with him, because she loved him.

The wind, despite being warm, felt real cold as it played with her hair. "There are things that are more important than love, and I have a duty to fulfill. My past doesn't lie with you. I am not your princess." Only then did Minako finally meet his gaze. His eyes were narrowed in contemplation, as he regarded her warily.

Finally the black-haired male replied. "Yes, you are."

The Senshi of Love cast a glance to the side. The Tokyo bay looked real beautiful today. The last whispers of the dying sun were reflected in the ocean; coloring it to the bright orange she so dearly loved. "What do you know…" she whispered

"Do you love me?" he asked. Minako startled.

She closed her eyes in pain. "I do," she finally replied. "But I will hide this feeling, for my mission comes always first."

Her shoulders were grabbed by his very warm, familiar hands. "Then, continue to love me," he ordered. Tears began to sting her eyes. Why was he making it so hard?

She looked up at him, not minding the tears that now flowed down her face, as she flashed at him a bitter smile. "You don't understand. One day you will remember her and you shall leave me. So let us not assign ourselves up to this sad fate." He stared at her; his eyes soft and desperate for her attention and love. Why? Why was he so stubborn?

"I remember her," finally he whispered.

Minako froze, as her mouth fell open. "What?" The words that she wanted to shout out, came as a mere whisper.

"I remember her," he repeated, "Sailor Senshi of Venus, Goddess of Love and Beauty, Minako Aino." She felt as if her world would crumble down beneath her and she would fall. She felt really light-headed, but the firm grip he had on her, steadied her wavering form. "But, despite what me and Usagi had in the past, I love you."

"Mamo…ru…" Minako whispered in shock. How could she do it to her dear friend? How could she take the man that Usagi loved? "This will break her. Your bond is an ancient one. The red thread of fate," she said frantically.

Mamoru looked away, and the setting sun, alit his features, only reminding the blonde, why she fell in love with him in the first place. Because no matter, what guise he wore, no matter as whom he was reborn, he still was the proud, noble Prince of Earth.

"If it were true, then I wouldn't have fallen in love with you," he finally spoke.

Minako tried to struggle out of his hold, but he didn't let her go, as he pulled her closer, enveloping her lithe form into an embrace. They stood there silent, listening to the lull of the waves crashing into the shore.

"How long… how long have you known that I am Sailor Venus, and you are the betrothed of Princess Serenity?" asked finally Minako.

Mamoru sighed. "For a year…"

"A year," repeated Minako dumbly, as she comprehended the situation. "A year after we started dating, you remembered our past? But," she failed to understand his reasoning. "Why? Why did you still continue to love me, if you are fated to be with Usagi-chan?"

She buried her face into his shirt, clutching on to him. A warm hand rested on top of her, brushing her hair softly, trying to calm her down. "Because no matter what happened in the past I still love you," he spoke softly. He wouldn't give up on her. He wouldn't leave her despite their past catching up to them. Usagi… she would hurt the cheerful blonde, who had too much on her plate right now.

"What will we do now?" she whispered, glancing up. "Usagi-chan has awoken and there is a new enemy. We need Tuxedo Mask, no we need Prince Endymion," she spoke. "Mako-chan and Hotaru-chan are already searching for you and Rei-chan."

Mamoru frowned. "And Usagi?"

Minako flushed. "Her father is in a coma. She has a lot on her plate, dealing with the company, legal matters," she said. "We're still not quite sure in Mai's story, and we are waiting for Luna and Artemis to return with verifications." They shouldn't be even embracing. He should forget her.

"So… it seems as if she doesn't even try searching me out," noted Mamoru smiling slightly.

Minako gasped. "Don't say so. I'm sure she loves you, Mamoru…" Oh, how it hurt, to admit that she would step back and return Usagi's beloved to her. But she met him first in this life. They fell in love first. So why? Why did duty have to come first for them?

She must have looked real depressed, as Mamoru tilted her head up, wiping a few remains of her tears away, as he spoke: "Don't defend her love towards me, if it even exists in this incarnation, with such a sad face. Be honest to yourself…"

"I love you," finally whispered Minako. Perhaps… perhaps she could try to see if they could work it out. _'I'm sorry, Usagi. But how can I be a warrior of love, if I don't even follow my own feelings.'_

Mamoru smiled at her. "I love you too, Minako. You were the one with whom I fell in love. And you are the one whom I will love, no matter what the memories tell me," he dipped towards her face, planting a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose. "And that which feels so right within our hearts, cannot be wrong."

The pair stared at each other, relishing in the short moment of peace and determination in their relationship. A sweet kiss was shared between them, as they stood still, tasting each other's lips, cherishing the emotions behind that simple chaste action.

They broke away. "What shall we do?" murmured Minako desperately as she hugged him tighter.

Mamoru smirked. "The Sailor Senshi team doesn't need Tuxedo Mask to back them up," Minako grimaced. He did have a point. Compared to the rest of them, Mamoru was not that battle-efficient, unless in his Endymion form. He flicked her nose, grinning widely, "But my Mi-chan needs her Mamoru to support her, while she saves the world."

Minako cracked a smile. "You're just too cute for your own good."

The pair broke out in laughter, embracing each other, as they hoped for a better future.

* * *

They had walked up one floor, to her office (it had been _father's _before). Crockets had gone off to fix them some tea and the pair had walked in silence to the large office room. It had been unsettling, the silence that is.

Usagi sat down at the CEO desk, feeling slightly disheartened by the fact that she had to be here.

"It's been a while, Usagi-joou," spoke the green-haired woman, lunging in a chair across from her.

Usagi smiled humorlessly. "You're repeating yourself, Setsuna."

The older woman chuckled. "My, you seem certainly more easily annoyed, that last time I've seen you around." The blonde CEO frowned. Had Setsuna really been a childhood friend of her father, and had she really taken care of her, when she was a child.

"You were my matron? When I was just a child? A childhood friend of my father?" asked Usagi.

"That is so," Setsuna replied. Usagi seethed. Without a doubt Setsuna had her power of time back. Without a doubt she had seen that entire affair happening. She should have known what the Sennen Eye would cause to happen. So why?

"So why didn't you interfere when that demon took ahold of him?" asked Usagi, her words cold and dripping with barely controlled fury. Setsuna winced at the accusation, and for a mere moment the blonde felt sorry for her.

"I'm sorry…" whispered Setsuna, gripping the fabric of her skirt. "But you know very well that as the Time Guardian I may not interfere, in fear of repercussions."

Usagi sighed in exasperation. She should have known. It was just as usual. Pluto had always access to them, she knew all of the paths of time, she could see and anticipate all that had happened, will happen, was happening, but…

"Destiny, like usual," bit out Usagi bitterly, "Didn't the fates have enough fun messing with our lives for the first time around?" she murmured eyeing the mahogany wood of her desk.

"Speaking of that… you're calling me Usagi-joou," noted Usagi. Well, she hoped that at least Setsuna was allowed to clear up the mess about her past.

Setsuna smiled softly, her eyes filled with pride. "That is what you are. Now that there are several blocks from the memories of our past life removed, I know better."

Usagi leant forwards. "So you know what truly happened?"

"I do," replied Setsuna.

"Speak." That was the simple order Usagi gave.

Setsuna shook her head. "I'm sorry…"

Usagi groaned in frustration. "- but you cannot. I should have guessed. What can you do then?"

Setsuna's garnet eyes glowed in the dim lighted office. "I can only guide you within the limits of reasonable. You must pass your own personal trials to regain what once was lost." Her words left a heavy imprint on Usagi. It invoked a nostalgic feeling inside of her – that which had been lost…

The blonde rabbit sighed. "I suppose you can't tell anything about Yami –"

Setsuna blinked. "Yami?"

"The pharaoh, who sealed a terrible evil," clarified the blonde.

"Ah, him," breathed out Setsuna. "No, what I know that I can't say. And even I do not remember his name due to the nature of the ritual he conducted," stated the Senshi of Time.

"I see," murmured Usagi, leaning with her elbows against the table. "Well, at least it's good to have you back. I can be certain that you will at least warn me of impending death or a crucial mistake." Setsuna gave her a wry smile and the blonde considered this a positive answer.

"Haruka and Michiru shall be soon arriving with the other Senshi," said the green-haired Time Senshi.

"Was Rei found too?"

Setsuna shook her head. "No…"

"I suppose you can't tell us where she is as well?" Another smile was flashed from Setsuna, and Usagi groaned in exasperation. What use was of a Time Guardian, if she couldn't even advise on matters that worried her. "Is she fine at least?"

Setsuna nodded. "She is fine. You'll be seeing her when the time comes. Rei has her own destiny to fulfill in the trials." Her own destiny? Rei-chan had her own destiny. What did that entail? She surely hoped that Rei-chan wouldn't have any problems and that they would meet again soon. But in the meantime…

"Hey, Setsuna. Was Hotaru truly my sister?"

The green-haired woman smirked. "Yes."

Usagi sighed wistfully. Well, in this life she was pretty close with Hotaru. The black-haired girl could very well be considered her best friends.

"I wonder what our family on the moon was back then… can you at least tell me that?"

Softly the time guardian smiled. "You want to know about your father on the moon, I guess?" Usagi nodded. "Alright, I shall tell you," replied Setsuna, and she began to spin her tale of King Thanatos and Queen Selenity.

* * *

"Woah! That is so awesome!" exclaimed a group of girls oohing and awing at something in the other corner from them. Jounoochi turned around glaring at the loud girls.

"Please show us again!" exclaimed one of them, as she moved to the side, effectively revealing to him the culprit behind this excitement. It was a black-haired youth, who wore his hair in a tall ponytail. A red-black checkered bandana was tied around his forehead. The youth used makeup, lining his bright green eyes with kohl. One of the eyes had a black line beneath it. Jounoochi scoffed. The new student looked like an idiot.

The youth grinned at the girls flocking his desk. "No problem. However this time, we will be betting on something. Followed by that it's six dice. If this is successful you'll pay for my lunch today," his unknown classmate grinned placing six dice and a cup on the table. "Let's begin."

The dices were dropped into the cup and he turned it upside down, shaking the cup. Finally he placed them on the table and took of the cup. The dices were all aligned perfectly in a tower.

"It's so awesome!" squealed the girls.

"What kind of a show-off is that?" growled Jounoochi, annoyed at the unknown male and sort of jealous of the attention he could easily get.

"Is he one of our classmates?" asked Honda, looking at the pale guy.

Yugi tapped his chin. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "I remember. I think his name is Ryuji Otogi."

Anzu scoffed at him and Honda. "He just transferred to our school. You shouldn't have come so late to school, then you would have known that he is a new student," she admonished.

"Bah! I hate those kind of people," the blond resident loudmouth drawled. "They only use little tricks and fool all girls around the school."

"You're just jealous, Jounoochi-kun," deadpanned Anzu.

"Ha! I'm the kind of person that would hide my talent and not show it off to everyone!" boasted Jounoochi.

Honda smirked mirthfully. "And what talent do you have?"

The blond bristled. "Hey! Didn't you see my talent during the Duelist Kingdom?" he exclaimed, "I have the talent to play Duel Monsters."

The smooth voice that suddenly addressed him caught the blond loudmouth off guard. "Oh. You have that kind of talent?" Jounoochi slowly turned around and found the youth whom they were discussing. There was something about him, something really familiar, but the blond just couldn't quite put his finger on it. The black-haired male stood expectantly, tapping on of his feet.

"Yeah! I was one of the four finalists of Duelist Kingdom!" said Jounoochi with pride.

"What an arrogant look…" muttered Anzu.

"I see that guy is showing himself off already," deadpanned Honda.

The male's, Ryuji Otogi was his name, gaze shifted shortly to Yugi, darkening slightly, but then he quickly turned back to him and grinned: "Oh! That is cool. Duel Monsters is one of my favorite games. And you lasted against Usagi Crawford far longer than everyone else usually lasted," Jounoochi grimaced. He lost in that duel, but the guy was playing it off as if it was an accomplishment. "That is quite a feat," congratulated Otogi.

Those disturbing green eyes zeroed in on him. "Then, we should play a game too…" The challenge was issued, and for some reason the loudmouth just couldn't say no to that.

* * *

Makoto and Ami stood still in the elevator that was rising to the top floor of the skyscraper that held the headquarters of Industrial Illusions. The elevator was built so, that the passengers when turning away from the doors, could freely observe all of Tokyo as they rose. And Usagi's company did have a really good view over the whole city.

"I wonder what the Sailor Senshi meeting is about," mused Ami out loud, watching the illustrious cityscape that was mesmerizing her.

Makoto jolted out of her own daydream. "Sailor Senshi meeting?" she repeated dumbly. "So that's why Usagi called us up here."

Ami grinned, "This building is so awesome. I want to ask Usagi-chan to grant me a tour in the technical division of Industrial Illusions," she rushed out giddily wondering if her friend would help her to get a tour, or maybe a job. Mentally Ami berated herself, it was not very professional to get a job just because your friend owned the company, but who was she kidding. In this era perhaps only Seto Kaiba rivaled her intellect.

Makoto sweat dropped. "Technical divisions? Didn't they only create games?" she laughed sheepishly, embarrassed by her own lack of knowledge about Usagi's company.

Ami blinked in surprise at the taller girl's reaction. "Oh, but didn't you know? They developed the first hologram duel system," she said.

"Really? I though the Duel Arenas were made by KaibaCorp."

Ami nodded. "That's true. But before that Industrial Illusions had a different version of their dueling systems. The Battle Box I think they called it. The Duel Arena is a much more refined system and I've heard KaibaCorp are planning to reveal a new holographic system for Duel Monsters," the blue-haired girl clarified.

Makoto laughed. "Meeting Seto Kaiba I would think that he wouldn't pay so much attention to children's games," the auburn haired girl paused, knowing fully well how incorrect her statement was.

"Well, he is kind of strange." Ami grinned. Seto Kaiba, a genius in his own league, was quite an intriguing person. For example the Kaiba Land, which he opened, was something not made for profit, rather to provide orphans and all children that were not that well off a good place where to find some happiness.

Makoto sighed. "Aren't we all?"

The bell chimed, and the doors behind them opened. The girls reluctantly turned away from the bird's eye view of Tokyo. Crockets was already standing there, welcoming them.

"Miss Mizuno. Miss Kino. Everyone is waiting for you." The man bowed and led them through large twin oak doors to, what it seemed like, the CEO office. Inside, much to the surprise of the two schoolgirls, they found three very familiar faces that they hadn't seen yet.

"Haruka! Michiru! Setsuna!" Ami gasped.

"You're here too!" exclaimed Makoto.

Haruka waved to them nonchalantly, throwing at them her typical greeting. "Yo!"

"Long time no see, Mako-chan and Ami-chan!" politely greeted them the teal-haired Senshi of Neptune.

Usagi nodded to them, from her place besides a large, expensive looking mahogany desk, glowering at the two Outer System Senshi. "Well, apparently they have to be," she bit out, looking quite displeased with something. Minako, Hotaru and Setsuna started laughing at something, which neither Makoto, nor Ami quite understood.

"Aw, koneko, don't look so annoyed," Haruka teased, sitting up, as she leant over the table, to ruffle Usagi's neat buns. The blonde leant back out of Haruka's reach, hissing in exasperation.

Michiru laughed softly. "Our princess grew some claws and a backbone."

Usagi's eyebrow twitched. A sign of extreme pressure on the blonde. "Well, now that we're all gathered," she said curtly.

"Rei-chan isn't here yet…" interrupted Ami. A silence passed over the group of eight, reminding them about the tiny little fact that their team was not completely gathered yet. Finally Setsuna stood up.

"All will be explained," she said summoning her Garnet Rod.

* * *

Ryuji glanced to the other end of the ring, where Jounoochi Katsuya was standing. The ex-general of the Moon Kingdom wasn't even considering this a serious match. They had opened booster packs and created new decks, and the black-haired youth was pretty confident that he would easily knock the general back into some sense. It was unbecoming for them to act this way.

They had arrived at the dueling arena in his Black Crown shop, where of course his faithful cheerleaders awaited. At first Jounoochi was a bit unsettled by the TV cameras, and his intention to broadcast the match, but he agreed after some consideration. A dark smirk crossed the Saturnian general's face. He had two motives for the cameras to broadcast this. First… there was a great chance that the Queen and her Senshi would see the duel, and recognize them, so he could find them. A second… Otogi's gaze shifted quickly to Yugi. That boy… he broke his dream. Of course duty came first, which is why he would first remind General Jou of his duties, but then he would knock out the boy who defeated Pegasus and thus destroyed his dream.

He opened with Oni Tank T-34 in attack mode, while Jounoochi summoned Sword Hunter and destroyed his Oni Tank. He followed the Oni Tank with a Dark Bat in defense, and set a card face down. The sharp green eyes of the general fixed themselves on the blond loudmouth, who seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into his trap, not minding out the obvious lack of defense he placed before him. How unbecoming… the bitter thoughts once more fleeted from him, as he wondered whether the Queen would accept such degradation in her head of the army.

Jounoochi summoned Mad Sword Beast and attacked the Dark Bat bringing his life down to 550 life points. A smirk crossed his lips as he flipped the card he set, Michizure, which allowed him to destroy Jounoochi's Sword Hunter. Another trap was set, and he summoned Spikebot, which destroyed the Mad Sword Beast.

In reply Jounoochi summoned Goblin Attack Force and destroyed the Spikebot, and he was now down to 50 points. The Goblin Attack Force went into defense mode after attacking, so Jounoochi wouldn't be able to use it again next turn and the black-haired male smirked. It was time to bring down the general. Perhaps this would knock some sense into the one, who didn't even reawaken yet.

Twirling his hair around his finger Otogi summoned Gradius, activated his set magic card, Limiter Removal, which doubled Gradius's attack to 2400, and combined it with Fairy Meteor Crush, which allowed his monster to inflict battle damage even when his opponent's monster is in defense position. With 2400 points of damage done to General Jou's life points the male lost.

And to top it all off, the blond general agreed to a degrading bet. Well it certainly would teach him to think and not to let pride the better of him. Now, perhaps a week of degradation would be enough of a lesson to him. Otogi's gaze shifted to Yugi: well, he would have to challenge this one too. Duty was fulfilled, now he could deal with the one, who broke his dream.

A sudden jolt of magic alerted the reborn Saturnian, as it came from Yugi, and there in front of his eyes, someone else came to be.

"How dare you do that to my friend!" the new being glared at him, and for a second Otogi felt fear for his life at the lick of the dark powers from the being licking at him. But almost immediately the prideful strategist gathered himself together. This only proved further that Yugi won against Pegasus by cheating. He used magic to mess with his contractor's brain.

The challenge was issued. And he would not loose.

_'My Dungeon Dice Monsters will destroy you, whoever you are!' _

* * *

A short recap about the information they found out during the Duelist Kingdom filled in the Outer System Sailor Senshi about what had gone on, while they were not reunited yet.

Haruka still seemed to be in shock. "Our koneko was a queen in our past? Sisters with firefly to boot?" repeated the Wind Senshi for the fifth time.

Setsuna sighed in exasperation and nodded. "Yes. And she was also Sailor Moon. The first Senshi of the Moon, according to the history of the Sylvan Empire anyways. But also, we were all the first True Sailor Senshi of this Solar System."

Usagi frowned, tapping her fingers against the table in thought. "So then, it is true…"

Mihciru looked between the ever enigmatic Time Guardian, who simply smiled knowingly at Usagi, Hotaru, Makoto, Ami, Minako, who all seemed to be in deep thought. "Alright, we're missing out on something. Will you fill us in?" she asked.

And then, the Senshi understood, that even if their past seemed to be quite unreal, surreal, magical, like a fairytale, what they knew about themselves was still pretty normal compared to what they found out.

Summarizing all up: The were first born in the Silver Millennium, where they were easily accepted by the planets, who granted them the full planet powers, evolving their starseeds to Sailor Crystals. Then they were supposed to be reborn in this era, but instead got sent back in time 200 thousands of years. There, they were reborn with their Sailor Crystals already, but had to work on opening the core of the planet, which is why their Super and Eternal transformation came only after years of struggling to tame the wild planet powers. At the final battle with Chaos, they were finally sent to be reborn into their right timeline, where the other citizens of the Silver Alliance, correction Silver Empire, were reborn. Haruka sighed. This was making her head hurt.

"Why were we reborn in the past in the first place?" asked the sandy-haired blonde.

"That was destiny," replied curtly Setsuna. Well, it kind of made sense: because according to Setsuna, their ancestors settled down in this galaxy, because their descendants travelled to the past, tying the planets to their bloodlines, which would mean that the planets would always call out to their blood. And ironically, that is the reason their ancestors settled down in this galaxy, the reason why they were sent to the past and had the destiny of a Sailor Senshi. All in all, time made a complete circle and only cemented itself in the inevitability of any other course in the timeline.

So we are truly the first true Solar Senshi of the Solar System," murmured Mianko, slightly laughing at the way she worded a simple, yet confusing fact.

"And Luna was correct back then about one thing," suddenly laughed Usagi, "there really had been no Sailor Moon before. Because the Silver Alliance hadn't existed yet."

Ami suddenly sat up straight, her eyes wide. "As surreal as it had seemed to me first, I only now realized something about our uniforms," she spoke. As everyone's attention was gathered on her she continued: "Haven't you thought it to be weird that in the Silver Alliance, where no school sailor-uniforms existed we also wore such outfits? I mean, the outfit should have been different, if the Silver Alliance were the first to inhabit the Solar System besides Earth." She paused looking for the right bits of information in her mind. "I mean, the Sailor Senshi outfit is always the same as the first Sailor Senshi of that line wore."

"Hmph. Well, since for the first time the planet powers were accessed by us two hundred years ago…" Usagi trailed off.

Haruka seethed. "So, you mean to tell us, we've been stuck wearing these uniforms," she bit back the word skirt, because, honestly, everyone knew her inherent dislike for that clothing part, "because we were the first to access the Planet Powers on a previous evolutionary cycle on Earth?"

"That is a quite adequate summarization actually," stated Setsuna simply.

Haruka really wanted to scream in outrage. Kill someone. Something. Curse whatever higher being that decided to send them first into the past and only then into their right place, but the moment Michiru placed her hand on her shoulder, the blonde knew, if she snapped and cursed the way she usually did, she would be sleeping on the sofa.

"Bummer. We could have been wearing battle-robes instead." Haruka sat down, flushed at the sudden giggles from her comrades.

"I don't think that's something that really matters at the moment. Too late now anyways," mentioned Usagi offhandedly.

"We really should decide what we should do about Anzu, Jounoochi and Honda," noted the Senshi of Venus.

"I can't believe such a wimpy guy like that Honda guy is my cousin from our past," fumed Haruka.

Michiru laughed melodically, "You shouldn't judge him so quickly, darling. After all, Usagi-chan said that he is pretty stubborn hard-headed and overbearing." Again someone laughed in the group, perhaps it was the shy blue-haired genius, as Haruka flushed at Michiru's implications. "Doesn't that remind you of somebody?" teased the Senshi of Neptune.

Makoto grinned. "Sure sounds like someone we know."

The moment the humorous situation lightened up, Ami continued with her questions to Setsuna, as the ever-so-logical genius, was inserting all the data they had into her tiny super computer, without a doubt working on another theory. "But, actually, how exactly did the reincarnation in the past work out?" she asked.

"Usagi was almost completely correct," noted Setsuna, "in her assessment of the core of your reincarnation."

"Almost?"

"The Sailor Crystals are your souls. At least until you relinquish your powers to the next in line you will be forever reborn." Setsuna paused. "In the past, when you were reborn into a more distant era the planets cores recognized you as their Sailor Senshi and for the first time opened their cores for you. After you died, they waited for your return, since there was no one left to replace you. As the Sylvans arrived, the cores instinctively recognized the bloodlines of the people who would bear once more the Sailor Senshi. Thus they beckoned your ancestor and awoke the other Sailor Senshi. That is why in the Silver Alliance you didn't struggle with your powers. The cores were already formed."

"Hmph. But what about the Silver Crystal? It was found by Queen Sarina, though it's supposed to be my starseed?" mentioned Usagi.

"The Silver Crystal she found was a mere crystal granted the powers of the moon by the Power Guardian of the Moon. It was passed down through generations, feeding and evolving with each next queen, but only in your hands it awoke to true power, as it was a mere copy the power guardian created of your crystal. And in your hands it bloomed for the first time at the eve of the war against the Dark Kingdom. That is when the Silver Crystal merged with you, awakening that after which the Moon Power Guardian had modeled it after in the first place."

"The Silver Moon Crystal, my starseed," whispered Usagi.

"Exactly. So you were pretty close to it," said Setsuna.

Minako grinned, "Well, at least what Mai-san told us was all true. That's good to hear." No one missed the slightly annoyed look that passed Hotaru's face at the mention of her sister.

Usagi leant forwards, looking very concentrated on something. "Setsuna, will we be confronting the generals and the other Shadow Senshi?" the moment Ami asked that question, her head bolted up, as she eagerly looked towards Setsuna.

Yet the woman smiled and cryptically replied: "That is not up for me to decide."

The blonde rabbit sighed and finally replied: "We won't be awakening them. If they awaken themselves, then it is fated. If not, then let them have their normal lives. They don't have any more armies to lead anyways."

Haruka grinned, proud for the person her princess, no queen, had become. Perhaps this time around, it would be easier to follow her orders. The sandy-haired Senshi eagerly declared: "It's not like we need any help. We are the Sailor Senshi of this Solar System. And as we now know, the Legendary Soldiers of Light who fought against a great evil!"

Michiru slapped her arm, though in her eyes shone the same pride as what Haruka was feeling at the moment. "Ruka-chan, don't get obnoxious now."

* * *

Seto Kaiba was standing in front of the five cowering businessmen, who looked at the moment really pathetic. Just an hour ago, five files, with notices of Industrial Illusions terminating their contracts came in to him. Sent by the courtesy of one Usagi Crawford. The girl was pretty vindictive, he idly noted, after another file of their attempted forgery of documents was reported to him. And she really knew how to prove her eagerness to do business with him.

And now he was here, ready to fire these five bastards. And they had the gall to challenge him to a game. And that if he passed it, they would leave quietly.

"Do you honestly think I'm going to accept your petty challenge?" Seto sneered.

"Kaiba-san! We were doing that in the interest of the company," exclaimed Daimon. Seto made a face, at the fake sincerity the man was trying to show. It was really obvious, painfully so.

"I'm sure of that," he said wryly, "Maybe you hadn't expected that, but your previous employer has kindly provided me with very interesting information about your activities. I doubt that you were doing it in the interests of anyone but yourself." Immediately the five men paled at his implication. "Forget your challenge, gather your things and get out of my company," ordered the imposing brunette, glaring at the five traitors.

Chikuzen Oka smirked, as he righted his glasses. "Kaiba-san! We are the best. And firing us will lower the cost of the stocks of KaibaCorp, as well as the value of Industrial Illusions has lowered," he said. Did he honestly think Seto didn't know this? Seto knew this perfectly, and already had a plan against it. Of course it was not completely his plan, he dryly noted to himself, but then again it would work. And he would be a fool to let such an offer fleet him.

He crossed his arms, gathering himself up imposingly, as she furiously glared at the Big Five for even daring to threaten him. "Do you really think you can subdue me with idle threats? Get out of here," growled Seto. Only when his loyal security guards came in, did the Big Five finally start moving their fat asses out of his company.

He didn't even pay attention to the threat Daimon made. "You will regret this!" At that Seto Kaiba only snorted, ordering the office plankton to immediately clean up their offices, and his internal investigators to search for all activities the Big Five had held behind his back.

* * *

The wargeneral grinned, as the dark being issued his challenge. All was falling perfectly into his plan. But first, he had to get the witnesses out of here.

"I'll accept your challenge, but everyone will leave," said the general.

The dark being startled. "What?" he gasped. "Why would you want that?" The demon (8) obviously didn't understand his reasoning. But when did they ever get their motives?

"Oh, no," he waved nonchalantly towards the cameras set into the dueling arena, "the cameras will still be filming, but everyone will get out. They can watch from the outside," he said.

A brunette girl, that was in the posse of his fellow general seethed. "You just want to separate us from Yami, so that he will feel desperate alone," she exclaimed. And Ryuji almost snorted at that. Demons? Feeling desperate from being alone? Who was she kidding? But at least she gave him a name.

"Yami?" repeated Ryuji, a smirk gracing his elegant features, the dark being shifted uncomfortably, "Is that what you call this other being?" he asked, noting how the Yugi-tachi behind the being that possessed Yugi exchanged wary glances. "Again. I repeat. I'll accept your challenge only if you lot will get out of here."

After some consideration Yami spat out: "Fine!"

"But Yami!" began the brunette girl, Anzu - that was her name, Ryuji reminded himself.

"We don't have a choice," growled Yami. With a few more complaints, finally the cheerleaders and the others moved to a neighboring room, the heavy metal doors sealing them off from the other world. With a flick of his wrist, the microphones were all turned off and everyone would now only observe them, but not hear anything.

The bloody-red eyes, that were not meant to be on a normal human being, zeroed in on him. "So you can see me," simply stated _Yami, _how befitting, darkness, a name for a creature of the same element. Well, he was a war general, a Sylvan warrior, and he had a holy duty to wipe out demons that threatened the world.

"As clear as the sky," dryly replied Ryuji.

The red eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Any specific reason why you targeted us? Do you want the Sennen Puzzle?" growled the being. "You can forget about it!"

Ryuji blinked in confusion. What was Yami going on about? He had no idea about a Sennen Puzzle… so, the demon thought he was targeting him.

"The Sennen Puzzle? I have honestly no idea what it is. But if it makes your life easier, spirit," the general delighted in the way he managed to unsettle the demon, by his superior knowledge, "I am targeting Jounoochi, because he isn't fulfilling his destiny. He's just lucky I was around, and to think that he is hanging out with a demon," scoffed the green-eyed male.

Yami frowned at his words. "I have no idea what you are talking about. But… you agree to this, if I win, Jounoochi-kun will be free, but if you win, I will never play Duel Monsters again."

Ryuji smirked. "Exactly. Let us play." It was all going right according to his plan. He would remind Jou and Honda of their duties, after all, strong emotions brought forwards the memories of past lives, and once angered they would awaken and then… and then they would see his friend for what he truly was.

He, Ryuji Otogi, as someone with an awakened Saturnian heritage, easily saw the darkness that was enveloping the body of Yugi Mutou, growing from a pendant hanging on his neck, changing the body, magic and the strength to accommodate the demon, being, spirit, whatever it was. But… even if he didn't know the exact reasons how Yugi came by the cursed item, he knew a parasite when he saw one. (9)

* * *

Ryuji snapped his fingers and the arena began to change. The playing field was laid out in a grid, and Yami stepped up to the platform. A tray opened, revealing three rows of dice, all different designs and colors. Ryuji told Yami to choose fifteen dice to play the game with, saying he's sure Yami's such a good gamer he wouldn't need any advice on which dice to choose. Yami didn't know which ones to pick, but Ryuji hurried him up and he selected his fifteen.

Then the game went on in a whirlwind. There was something unsettling in the way those sharp green eyes looked at him, and strangely Yami was reminded of the way Hotaru sometimes looked at him. It was as if she saw his soul. They each put their dice in a chute, where they were randomized and returned three at a time. They would roll all three dice at once, and the result determined what they could do on their turn. Ryuji went on to explain that they each start the game with three heart points, and whoever loses their heart points first loses the game.

And the game was on! It went on in a whirlwind and Yami quickly saw his disadvantages of not knowing the game. And this time his friends were not here to cheer him on. Ryuji had already Ryu-Kishin, Gator Dragon, Thirteenth Grave and some weird chest on the battlefield. And he was pretty close to his heart points. Yami rolled his dice, thinking he had to have faith. The dice rolled... slowly... the first one wassn't a summon crest (Yami gripped his fists), but the second one was a Level 4 summon, and the third... one (Yami held his breath)... was another Level 4 summoning crest!

Quickly Yami dimensioned the dice, summoning the Mighty Mage, then used a movement crest from his pool to advance it so it could destroy the Thirteenth Grave. The dark spirit grinned happily, finally he got a grip on the game, but he was still way behind. Ryuji rolled another summoning, and summoned the Blast Lizard, telling Yami it had a special attack. This time, Yami had some lower level dice to roll, and was able to summon Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress. Ryuji's next roll didn't give him any summoning crests, but he did get two magic crests, which he needed in order to use the Blast Lizard's special attack. He moved the Blast Lizard into position and activates its attack, destroying Yami's Winged Dragon! Yami's next roll yielded nothing, and Ryuji was able to summon a Level 3 monster, Dark Assailant. He moved Blast Lizard and Gator Dragon right up to Yami's heart points, taunting Yami that even he himself wouldn't be able to figure a way out of this one, and he was the game's inventor!

To say so honestly, Yami was shocked!

* * *

"I dedicated my life to creating Dungeon Dice Monsters," spoke the green-eyed youth, his eyes flashing for a second to lavender, alerting he dark spirit that something was not quite right. "I sent the game to Pegasus, who flew me out to his island on a private helicopter for a meeting. He challenged me to a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters and even though it was his first time playing the game, he easily overpowered me and won the game."

Yami stilled. Of course Pegasus won. He had the Sennen Eye that could read the opponent's mind.

"Then Pegasus told me he enjoyed the game, and would partner with me to produce it. The official contracts were to be drawn up after Pegasus had finished hosting a Duel Monsters tournament," Ryuji's voice got quiet, as he looked up furiously at him, "But ever since you defeated Pegasus in that tournament, I had been unable to contact him. Everything I had worked for was shattered, and it was all your fault!" growled the youth, shocking the ancient spirit of the puzzle.

"You don't know what kind of man Pegasus was!" Yami protested.

But Ryuji wouldn't listen. "You must have pulled some dirty tricks on Pegasus in order to win. And I should have known. You must have used magic to confuse him!" insisted the green-eyed youth, his eyes now constantly flashing between an eerie lavender hue and the sharp green.

Yami involuntarily took a step back. He felt the same power as what the Sailor Senshi of Saturn possessed, though much weaker in the sense of purity, it was still formidable. The pharaoh quickly shook his head. He couldn't let Ryuji play with his mind.

"Is that why you degraded Jounoochi?" asked Yami angrily, "To challenge me?"

A surprised smile came to the black-haired male's face. He shook his head laughing, "No, it's just that Jou and Honda need to relearn manners."

And if at first the pharaoh would have let the comment pass, but the _familiar _way Ryuji addressed Jounoochi-kun was really strange. Unless…

His fists slammed onto he dueling remote surface. "Can it be? You're also from the Silver Alliance?" he gasped out.

"What?" Ryuji reeled back. "How do you know about it?" he demanded furiously.

Yami narrowed his eyes at the opponent. So perhaps this was the reason why he always felt as if staring at Hotaru. The same kind of power, only more diluted. "I met the Sailor Senshi at the Duelist Kingdom. It was revealed that Jou, Honda and Anzu are all from that time," he clarified.

Immediately something snapped in his opponent, as he leant forwards. "You met the Sailor Senshi? Who are they? Where are they now?" he frantically demanded. Well, he seemed genuinely worried for them, but… he had insulted him quite a lot during this time, calling him demon and along those lines.

"Why should I tell you, for all I know you could be an enemy!" taunted Yami delighting in the way Ryuji immediately flushed beet red in anger.

"You! A parasite-spirit, dare tell me, Wargeneral Duke Ryuji of Saturn that I am enemy to the queen?" he bellowed, a purple aura spreading around him, as it changed his clothing. Briefly Yami heard the sound of cameras frying at the influx of the energy emitted by his opponent. "I ought to whip you into submission for such accusations." His regular clothing melted away into a white tunic, with several violet embroideries, beneath it were white chinos tucked into dark grey knee-high boots. On his forehead was a mix of a crown and forehead-guard made out of some semi-precious violet gem, a golden jade glinting in the center of it. Strangely it was more of like a male-version of a Sailor Senshi tiara, Yami had seen the Sailor Senshi wear.

The power crackled for one last time, and formed a black glove on his left hand, a strange smell of death surrounding it. "Answer me now, where is the queen and her guardians," growled Ryuji, once the power died down.

Yami chuckled. "Ah, so another wargeneral. Why would you act that way against your superior?" Mai had said so herself, Jou was the leader of the wargenerals, and Honda was his second-in-command. Immediately the green-eyed wargeneral reacted.

"Filthy demon! I have no doubts now that you are an enemy. If I find out that even one hair was harmed on my queen's head, I will destroy you," he hissed.

Yami growled in return. "You will never be strong enough to do it." His blood was rising to the magic floating in this arena.

"I'll have you know that this game didn't come from my simple imagination. I was the head of defense in the Silver Alliance. No one had ever broken through my defenses." Ryuji chuckled as he explained the origins of his game.

"Well it's good for you," replied Yami, getting a bit of his raving power under control, "Though, I must insist, I would never hurt Serenity in any way. In fact, all I can say if anyone dares to even touch her in the wrong way, I'll break their fingers," he whispered menacingly, feeling the shadows react to his own strong emotions.

Ryuji froze for a second, obviously considering whether he was an enemy or not. But his own convictions overpowered any kind of reason he could have seen. "You strive to protect her?" he hissed. "Filthy demon! How dare you desire my queen?"

Yami groaned, as the magic of the Sylvan (10) General clashed against him. He was barely keeping himself under control. "This is getting annoying! How about we finish this game, and then I prove to you that I am your ally! No magic in this game. No tricks. No nothing."

"Fine! I will honor the challenge!"

* * *

Yami rolled two Level 3 summon crests, and summoned Thunderball. Ryuji's next roll gave him one attack and two movement crests. He moved the Gator Dragon and Blast Lizard into position, and destroyed one of Yami's heart points with the Gator Dragon. Yami rolled his dice, and got two double magic crests, allowing him to activate Thunderball's special ability and destroy Ryuji's Blast Lizard. Then he used three more magic crests from his crest pool to destroy the Gator Dragon as well.

"Your move wasn't that bad," Ryuji condescendingly told Yami, "but it is not enough to defeat me."

"I had my doubts about the game at the beginning, but now I see what a great game it is," replied the pharaoh, and for a second the general looked quite pleased, but then the angry expression returned to his face, as he assured the spirit, he wouldn't fall for a demon's tricks.

Ryuji rolled, and didn't summon any monsters. Yami rolled two summons and a movement crest. He summoned the Knight of Twin Swords, but it was not within striking range of any of Ryuji's monsters. Ryuji rolled, and summoned the Battle Ox, using four stored movement crests to move into position to attack Yami's Knight of Twin Swords. The Battle Ox gained ten points of attack strength when attacking Warriors like the Knight! But Yami quickly switched his Knight into defense mode, where it has enough points to stave off the Battle Ox's attack.

Now it was Yami's turn again. He used two attack crests to allow his Knight of Twin Swords to attack the Battle Ox twice and destroy it, but Ryuji laughed. He points out that his dungeon path has taken up most of the board, crossing the entire field, blocking Yami's monsters from getting anywhere near his heart points! Yami was trapped.

Ryuji rolled a summoning with the rare and powerful black die, and summoned the Warp Vortex! Once he would summon a second vortex deep in Yami's territory, his monsters would be able to travel instantly from one Warp Vortex to the other. Yami rolled another summoning, and summoned the Strike Ninja to the field. Ryuji got another black die, and rolls—but the summon failed. Then Yami got a one of the rare black die in his next set of dice! He rolled two summoning crests, and summoned his own Warp Vortex, then sent his Strike Ninja into it. It came out on Ryuji's side of the field, where it destroyed Ryu-Kishin. Ryuji rolled, but didn't get a summoning. Yami rolled two movement crests, and sent the Strike Ninja to destroy one of Ryuji's heart points.

Suddenly the green-eyed game creator broke out in laughter. "How dare you hurt me, the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters!" He chuckled lightly. "Now I can see why you're the champion of Duelist Kingdom. This is very exciting, Yami-kun. But I won't let you go any further!"

Ryuji rolled a Level 3 summoning, and summoned Orgoth the Relentless, then used two stored magic crests to raise Orgoth's attack power, and movement crests to move it into position to attack Yami's Strike Ninja! But Yami used a trap crest to activate the Strike Ninja's special defense, avoiding Orgoth's attack. Yami rolled two more movement crests, and moved the Strike Ninja in to destroy another of Ryuji's heart points.

Ryuji rolled, swearing his revenge. This time, Yami had no more trap crests to defend his Strike Ninja, and Orgoth the Relentless destroyed it. Yami had to go on the defensive again! He rolled, and got a movement crest, which he used to move the Knight of Twin Swords in front of his heart points to protect them from Ryuji's monsters.

It's Ryuji's turn, and he moved Orgoth the Relentless four spaces towards the Warp Vortex. Reminding Yami of the way he used the Warp Vortex to move the Strike Ninja to Ryuji's side of the field, Ryuji sent Orgoth into the Warp Vortex. It came up on Yami's side of the field, where it loomed over Yami's three monsters.

Yami rolled, and moved all three of his monsters in front of his heart points. Ryuji then moved Orgoth closer to Yami's monsters, and used a magic crest to increase Orgoth's attack. Orgoth destroyed Thunderball, leaving Yami with only two monsters to protect him.

More taunts were passed at Yami as he rolled again. He attacked Orgoth, but Ryuji used a defense crest to increase Orgoth's defense, and the attack failed.

Ryuji rolled, and moved Orgoth forward one space, then used three magic crests to power up Orgoth by 30 points! Orgoth destroyed the Mighty Mage, leaving Yami with just one monster between Orgoth and his heart points!

* * *

The Saturnian war general warily observed his opponent. He had been never defeated at his own game, yet the spirit seemed to be strangely calm.

"You should surrender," he called out, as the demon looked up at him, the red eyes blazing in anger, "Leave Jou and Honda forever alone, it is unbecoming for a war general of the moon to hang out with a demon like you," he spoke. "Give up your title to me and be gone from my sight forever. Then I maybe won't send you to the darkness where you belong." Of course, he could have lied. But… if the demon would give up possession of Yugi Mutou and escape, he could perhaps spare its life for a while.

But a dark smirk was certainly not what he expected to see on the demon's face. "Then perhaps it is unbecoming for your queen to kiss me?" sneered Yami.

Ryuji froze in shock. "What!" he gasped out.

"You heard me," spoke Yami haughtily, "after all, your ruler seemed to be quite forthcoming about me during the Duelist Kingdom," he said, his words laced with poison. No, it wasn't possible! The fair Queen of the Moon would never pick a demon as her consort! But what if he wasn't a demon. The Saturnian duke glanced up in wonder. But the way that darkness around Yami taunted him. No… it definitely was a minion of Chaos.

"I will never believe that! How dare you insult her with your vile words," said Ryuji furiously.

"Enough, Duke (11)!" announced the demon, "I have a name, and that is Yami. I was a pharaoh allied with the Silver Empire and allied to your queen. I shall not have you insult me or our relationship." There was pride in his words and conviction. For a second it almost stopped the wargeneral. Because he never knew demons had such strong beliefs, convictions and faith in somebody. Because that is what he heard in Yami's words. He heard faith and belief in his and his queen's relationship. But… he wouldn't be _fooled by that._

"Haughty bastard. Well then I'll have to show you why we would never associate with the likes of you," hissed Ryuji.

But Yami only grinned in reply. "And I'll have to show you, why the queen approves of me."

* * *

Yami rolled, and used a movement crest to move the Knight of Twin Swords forward, then used six attack crests from his roll and his crest pool to increase the Knight's attack, and attack Orgoth. But Ryuji uses Yaranzo's special ability to change crests in his crest pool to defense crests, increasing Orgoth's defense points until it could withstand the Knight's attack.

Ryuji rolled, and attacked the Knight of Twin Swords with Orgoth, destroying it. Yami rolled, but none of his dice match. Ryuji rolled two movement crests, and moves Orgoth into position to attack Yami's heart points. One more of Yami's heart points was destroyed. Yami rolled a Level 4 summoning.

And despite what Ryuji believed to be impossible, he managed to find a place where to summon it. Yami moved the Dark Magician forward, and destroyed Orgoth.

"Your comeback ends now!" said Ryuji, and rolled. He moved the Dark Assailant forward onto the mysterious Item chest. Dark Assailant opened the chest to reveal Monster Cannon, a weapon that fired a monster at the enemy. He launches the Dark Assailant at the Dark Magician, but Yami activated Dark Magician's special ability, concealing it under Magical Hats. The Dark Assailant missed, and the Dark Magician emerges from another hat unharmed. Yami rolled two magic crests, which he used to activate another special ability—the Dark Magician's Mystic Box.

"Is this the special ability Pegasus was talking about?" wondered the war general aloud, as the Mystic Box skewered Yaranzo in one of the boxes, while moving the Dark Magician to take Yaranzo's place on the field. The Dark Magician made the same chastising finger-waggling gesture the Duel Monsters Dark Magician did!

"How could I loose," mused Ryuji, not minding the Dark Magician raising his staff. The magician attacked, wiping out Ryuji's last heart point, and Yami won!

* * *

His long forgotten outfit of a proud general had disappeared in wisps of violet mist, as he kneeled on the ground staring in disbelief at the blank screen of his dueling remote. How could he loose at his own game? How could he loose to a demon that possessed humans?

"Are you alright?" asked a concerned voice. Ryuji looked up and despite all the words that he had said to Yami, he was standing there, his red eyes worriedly looking at him.

"Leave now, demon, or take my life and let me not suffer this embarrassment," hissed the wargeneral, his pride damaged by his loss.

Yami sighed in exasperation, as he rubbed his temples. "And you really needn't to worry about your queen. She is quite fine and in good health," he explained, shortly muttering under his breath: "Besides the fact that I will throttle her for not contacting me."

Ryuji scoffed. He would not believe the demon. He was just probably acting. "You probably killed her already and you flaunt it now?" spoke the general, crossing his arms.

Yami growled in anger, frustration and exasperation. "Didn't I just tell you, she's in good health? And what is it with you Silver Alliance citizens constantly accusing me of being some kind of demon," he shouted.

Ryuji fumed at him. "It's the Silver Empire!" he bit back. "And of course you are a demon. You are possessing that boy," he exclaimed.

"I am not possessing Yugi. He grants me to use his body," replied Yami shocking the black-haired male, "Besides, what is it with you. We had decided to act like adults," he chided.

And that was all it took to make Ryuji Otogi, Duke of Saturn, angry again. He stood up, reforming his uniform, yet only summoning the black glove, his _special weapon, _that had a very nifty power against beings as him. "I will not give up that easily. I may have lost the match, but I will show you the true power of a War General. Maybe then the others shall awake," he hissed, getting into a battle stance.

Yami sighed. "Haven't I told you that your queen had decided herself not to awaken them and let them live their lives?" Despite acting aloof, and not taking a stance, the green-eyed male easily felt the darkness around him gather, ready to pounce on him the moment he attacked. It would be not that easy to defeat Yami, whoever he was.

"I don't believe you. The queen would never do such a thing," said Ryuji, as his eyes sharply gazed at Yami, analyzing everything about him. "She knows of the dangers and she would awaken them as soon as possible."

The tension rose and just as he was about to pounce, the sealed metal doors opened, and in strode a youthful looking blonde with her hair in a strange hairdo. Seeing her, the darkness around Yami dissipated, as Ryuji watched in confusion the cheerful girl, who skipped over to them. She looked very familiar, in more ways than one. Even that suit she wore, a red jacket, red pleated skirt, a ruffled white shirt beneath the jacket with a ribbon tied on it – it all looked very familiar.

"Hello, Ryuji. I'm here on behalf of Industrial Illusions, I'm here to talk about Dungeon Dice Monsters," happily spoke the blonde girl, not minding the Yugi-tachi and his cheerleaders barging into the room, though they were quickly escorted out by a grey-haired butler, that had followed the blonde into his dueling ring.

Yami smirked. "See, Ryuji I told you that you needn't worry about your queen." He glanced at the blonde girl. "Meet Usagi Serenity Crawford, daughter of Pegasus J. Crawford and also your queen."

Ryuji gasped. "Q-queen Serenity?" he stuttered, and suddenly the blurry images of his queen and her Senshi in his mind cleared, and he easily recognized the Sylvan Empress.

Usagi looked between him and Yami. "Did I miss something?"

* * *

"Noah-sama, we are glad we found you."

"Shall you help us extract our revenge?"

_'Very well… you shall be useful in my quest for revenge against Kaiba.'_

* * *

**End Chapter 8**

* * *

**Notes:**

(1) Known in dub as Johnson, expert lawyer and legal advisor

(2) Remember the Stallion Reve Chibi-Usa used to converse with Pegasus, Moonlight Reve is almost the same, only in different colors

(3) Known in dub as Gansley, former vice-president of business strategy

(4) Known in dub as Adrian Randolph Crump III, accountant who oversaw the company's finances

(5) Known in dub as Nesbitt, technical expert

(6) Known in dub as Lector, former assistant to Gozaburo, later Seto Kaiba, later Pegasus

All of Big Five are now fired both by Industrial Illusions and KaibaCorp

(7) _joou - _queen

(8) Ryuji calls him demon, because he thinks that he is a creature of Chaos possessing Yugi, he doesn't remember the pharaoh

(9) He recognizes magic of the puzzle as magic of Chaos, thus wishes to destroy it. It is his duty

(10) Sylvan – a general term in this fic regarding the Lunarians, Marsian, Mercurians, Venusians, Jupiterians, Uranians, Neptunians, Saturnians, Plutonians

(11) If Yami will be calling Ryuji Otogi Duke, it shall be not because of him being Duke Devlin, but because he is a prideful Saturnian Duke.

* * *

**Preview of next chapter:**

_"What's wrong, Mokuba?" asked Anzu. But the black-haired boy on rambled something incoherent. The brunette sweatdropped. "Ok, what about saying that a little bit slower?"_

_"Big brother has been kidnapped by the Big Five!" exclaimed Mokuba. And at that exact moment, into the shop came barging Ryuji Otogi, who rarely if ever showed up here, unless he was an errand from Usagi._

_"Serenity has been kidnapped," he shouted. And immediately Yugi was replaced by Yami._

_"When did that happen?" hissed the spirit angrily, fglexing his fingers, as everyone in Kame Game shop shivered at the sudden reality of the shadows around them, as they hissed and snarled in sync with their master's anger._

_"She was on her way to a meeting with Kaiba…" he began._

_Yet Mokuba interrupted him. "They must have kidnapped them together to get their revenge," exclaimed the young boy._

_"Revenge?" blinked Anzu in confusion._

_"Big brother and Usagi-san fired the Big Five for being traitors and two-timers," explained Mokuba, as Jounoochi guffawed._

_"Two-timer is not a word that should be used in this case," he laughed. Mokuba growled angrily at the older boy, as he went up and kicked him in the shin._

_"Does it really matter? We need to save Big Brother and Usagi-san!" stated Mokuba, not minding the blond jumping around him in pain._

_"He's right. What do we have to do?" said Yami._

* * *

For those of you who are still confused, here is the **timeline:**

**ca. 205'000 BC – **First **re**incarnation of the Senshi, their second birth, and Sailor Moon canon manga going on (Enemies: Dark Kingdom, Black Moon, Death Busters, Dead Moon Circus, Chaos). Filler enemies (Snow Queen, Fiore, Badiyane) were never introduced there. Past that is mentioned and seen there is fake. **Second incarnation for Sailor Moon characters**

**ca. 9'000 BC** – Kinomku is destroyed by a meteorite

**ca. 6'000 BC** – Remnants of Tankei Kingdom from Kinmoku arrive in the newly established Silver Alliance

**ca. 5'000 BC** – First birth of the Senshi, time of Acheron: Originis, the prequel to this story and the true past of the main characters. **First incarnation for Sailor Moon characters.**

**ca. 2'000 AD** – Second reincarnation, third birth of the Sailor Senshi. Current story. **Third incarnation of Sailor Moon characters.**

* * *

**_03/June/2011 _**_– Haha, complete. :D I had it almost done by today, and since had a few free minutes at work, could finish the small parts I hadn't done last week. So there you go. The beginning of the next Arc. The Noah's Virtual World Arc. As you can see, I shifted the timeline of Yugioh for many reasons. Reasons that will be revealed later._

* * *

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the duels/duels/duels.**

**So, motivate the author. 10 reviews per chapter is the minimum I demand. Nothing excuses you from not reviewing my stories if you like them. –laughs maniacally and disappears into darkness-**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	10. 9: Virtual Adventure Heroes

**13/June/2011 – **The Senshi and the Yugi-tachi end up in the Virtual Game world of the Big Five, where they have to fight for their lives. Also, two old familiar faces from the past make appearance.

**And again I say to those who haven't done so yet. To clear out questions, and other confusing moment you may find, start reading Acheron: Originis. It is the prequel to this story, set in Ancient Egypt and the Silver Millennium, there are covered many points in this story, that are mentioned. Like I said, both stories are written at the same time because it makes sense that way the most.**

* * *

**Thanks to all those who reviewed, favourited, put story on alert:** **Hotaru-the-Firefly **(Ahahaha, you're the only one who asked that question about Mistress 9, smart girl. Yami Bakura is not interested in Saturn, cause Yami Bakura is Zorc. Ryou Bakura is the main interest, and the reincarnation of the Thief King. In this chapter the foundations for Hotaru/Bakura are laid out), **Cosmic-lover **(well, can't be constantly following the tv-trope where Japanese child service doesn't exist, Yami can panic too, sometimes… when Usagi forces him to eat too much onions, more Yami/Usa interaction in this chapter, though you'll be whining for more), **Anime Princess **(Jou and Honda will awaken when the time comes, for some sooner, for some later), **SailorVMoon1311815 **(Usagi has the tact of a spoon), **angel313 **(enjoy), **wildflower1014 **(for some reason all my chapters for this story end up long), **Krissy **(Ohohoho, Minako and Mamoru will have to confront Usagi soon!), **Kochou-hime **(Yes, Noah arrived, and he will make their life hell now), **Saris Yui **(Never stop writing? Are you crazy? So I'll be 50 years old and still writing. But wait, who am I kidding, I'll never live to fifty with my lifestyle), **Sesshy's Mistress **(Usagi is his weakness and strength at the same time)

* * *

**_Names (first name is highlighted):_**  
**_Ryuji_**_ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_  
_Jounoochi** Katsuya **(Joey Wheeler)_  
**_Shizuka_**_ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_  
**_Anzu_**_ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_  
**_Honda _**_Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_  
**_Pegasus _**_J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_  
**_Cyndia _**_Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_  
**_Sugoroku _**_Mutou (Solomon Muto)_  
**_Mai _**_Kujaki (Mai Valentine)_  
_Sarutawari (Kemo)_  
_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_  
_Chikuzen Oka(Johnson – Judge Man)_  
_Kogoro Daimon (Lector – Jinzo)_  
_Shuzo Otaki (Adrian Randolph Crump III – Nightmare Penguin)_  
_Konosuke Oshita (Gansley – Deepsea Warrior)_  
_Soichiro Ota (Nesbitt – Robotic Knight)_

* * *

**A c h e r o n : I n f I n I t a s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

He drank in her appearance, memorizing her every gesture and jest. She seemed different now. Before there were mere wisps shadows in her eyes, and after awakening they became deeper. But still she was quite far away from him, but now beneath that joyful attitude, her eyes looked so carefully guarded, so sad, that he couldn't bear it. He caught the bits of conversation between her and Ryuji, that they were planning to sign the contract, as well as gather information about the past. The duo turned to leave, but he grabbed her hand. Immediately Ryuji whipped around, eyes narrowed, his dark power swelling once more.

"Before you go, stay a moment," murmured the pharaoh softly. Why was she like this? What happened in the time they hadn't seen each other?

"Yami…" She always pronounced his name so gently, so soothingly. Hesitantly she glanced at Ryuji and motioned him to leave. Reluctant he was, but Ryuji still left. He was really just a good guy, such unwavering loyalty towards his ruler. The black-haired male left the dueling arena room and they were left alone. Usagi nervously shifted from one foot to another, as she stared at the floor.

"Why didn't you contact me before?" asked Yami. Startled by the straight question, she glanced up. Yami crossed his arms. "Or did you forget completely about me?" One eyebrow raised he expectantly looked at her.

The blonde flushed, grabbing his hand. "I didn't, it's just that…" Once more the darkness in her eyes grew, as she solemnly looked away. Something definitely happened. Even her choice of clothes seemed different, proper and polite, and quite similar to Pegasus's suit.

Yami sighed, grabbing her wrists gently pulling the blonde to him. "Tell me… why do you look so sad?"

"I… I…" She sniffed suddenly, as she started shaking, but quickly took hold of herself.

"Usa-chan…" begged the spirit. Didn't she know? She could tell him anything. Because he cared for her…

Usagi sighed. "Yami-kun, that enemy which you defeated, it is back," the blonde said.

Yami froze. "What?"

She pushed against him, burying her head into his neck as she mumbled: "It is back and it attacked my father. He's in a coma right now." Her fists were tightly gripping the fabric of his leather shirt. Yami froze. The enemy whom he defeated in his past life. But, it was said that for the price of his memories the enemy was sealed away forever. How could it get out, if he still didn't remember his past? "Impossible… did you see the enemy?" he asked.

Usagi shook her head. "No… Shadi came by telling me that the enemy stole the Sennen Eye and sent my father into a coma."

"Shadi…" The elusive man was still making the wheels of destiny spin. What was his agenda?

She looked up at him. "Was he speaking the truth?" she asked. Yami noted the unshed tears glinting in her eyes. How cruel… just as she managed to free her father from that dark influence, he was taken away from her. How did she still manage to act so deceitfully happy?

"I believe he did. He watches over the Items," replied the pharaoh wiping away a stray tear that started making it's way down her face.

"I see," Usagi looked away, her eyes glossing over, and just on a whim, he pulled her up closer to him, planting a sugar sweet kiss on her temple. She froze for a second, and then relaxed in the warmth and solace he provided briefly to her.

"Don't look so pitiful," he murmured, running a hand through the golden tresses he adored so much. Who cared about his memories if she was sad… after all… she was his precious person.

"Yami-kun…"

He grinned at her. "Princesses shouldn't be so sad, especially you." And only then, finally, reluctantly, she smiled shyly, but their brief contact ended as she pulled away, the smile melting away, as something more akin to her dueling face set in.

"I must go now. We will be seeing each other very soon," she said sincerely.

Yami smirked, tapping the bridge of her nose, earning a slightly annoyed look from the moon warrior. "Do you promise me? I don't want to go another two weeks without any notice from you."

Usagi rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I promise. Give me one week," she replied.

One week. Well, he could live with that. "Alright, one week. And you contact me each day with that Moonlight Reve you gave me," he stated crossing his arms, as Usagi stuck out her tongue at him in a childish manner. "Otherwise it's a useless thing in my mind." She smacked his shoulder playfully at that.

"I promise. One week and you'll be seeing me almost each day," the blonde murmured gently, looking up at him a faint blush spread across her cheeks. She was so darn cute. Seeing her everyday would be a welcome change to the solitary search for his past around his soul room.

Yami patted one of her buns. "Each day? How come?"

The blonde stuck out her tongue again, as she winked. "A secret," she sung out, taking a step back from him. He already missed the comforting feel of the energy she provided to him, nurturing his dark powers, making them grown stronger as they fed her power in return. Today was not the day, when they would speak to each other, revealing what happened, what was found, that was fated for another day, but today…

He caught her shoulders, gripping them tight, as the shadows swirled around them. "Alright, I will wait," he promised. He leant down close to her face, whispering heatedly to her: "But if you do not contact me each day, I swear, I will tear the Earth apart, but I will find you."

"Yami!" gasped out Usagi, appalled at the dark promise he made.

"Little queen, all precious and all mine," he cooed and captured her lips.

* * *

Makoto and Ami watched with amused expressions Usagi storming about the room, ranting about megalomaniac pharaohs, who didn't have the slightest clue on how to go about courting, and the fact that they interfere with her tight schedule, when she has constant meeting with Kaibacorp to secure the profit of both of their companies. In fact, The Senshi of Protection and Senshi of Wisdom were going over security plans for the latest partnered project of Industrial Illusions.

Their queen stormed out like a hurricane and the office became quiet again. Makoto looked up at the clock, it's been two hours since they were here. Where were the others?

"Where are Minako and Hotaru?" she asked putting down the folder she was looking over now.

Ami sighed, as she readjusted her reading glasses. "Hotaru is on an errand from Usagi in England. Something concerning the paperwork from our school."

The auburn-haired girl glanced up in thought. Ah, yes, now she remembered Usagi saying something about it. Oh, right, transferring schools. "Ah… yes, the transfer part. And Minako?"

"Minako said she had an outing with a family today," replied Ami grabbing another folder.

Makoto frowned. "We're supposed to over security plans!" she argued. Minako was the leader; it was irresponsible for her to lie back on more important activities like that.

"Don't worry, she said she'll manage it in time," replied Ami, throwing a folder at her and expectantly glaring at her. The Senshi of Protection sighed. Really… it was unfair, she could have been resting as well.

* * *

Haruka glared at the offending sheets of paper. "Why do I have to deal with this paperwork?" she bit out.

Michiru giggled at her antics. "Haruka, you wanted to do this yourself, to be close to our princess," she noted, taking jab at their true purpose of working in Industrial Illusions.

"But, I didn't think that being a lawyer was that boring!" the blonde wind Senshi whined in an exasperated way.

Michiru sweat dropped. "Being a lawyer deals with paperwork," she blankly said.

"I thought it was about talking down to other people," replied Haruka shrugging as she stood up intent to walk away from her job.

"Haruka!" scolded Michiru, nervously glancing at the silent Setsuna, who up till yet seemingly ignored their friendly spat. But the way her hand gripped her cup, it wouldn't last long anymore. In fact, the elegant female could almost swear she saw a tick form over Setsuna's left eye.

Haruka grinned suddenly. "But anyways. How do you like accounting, Michi-chan?" she taunted.

Michiru blanched. It was a well-known fact that she was an artist, and numbers were not her passion. But still… this was what she had to do. "I hate you," replied Michiru half-heartedly.

A cup slammed down onto the table. "Enough! You wanted to join Industrial Illusions, but please do your job!" snapped Setsuna, her maroon eyes narrowed in irritation, as the two Sailor Senshi gulped. "Or else," she whispered viciously, a smirk alighting her features.

"Or else what?" goaded Haruka.

Setsuna smirked as she crossed her arms. "You want to face the wrath of a Crawford?" And the two Sailor Senshi paled. Usagi Serenity Crawford was a cheerful, light-going individual, but when it came to managing her father's beloved company, she was as relentless as a shark chasing her prey. No failures were tolerated.

Haruka laughed nervously, setting down in her seat. "Alright, alright! Michi-chan, what's up next?"

Michiru smiled nervously, quickly handing over the documents. "Battle City project." The two nervously sent a glimpse at Setsuna, who was watching their exchange with a satisfied grin. Finally she stood up, gathering her own things.

"And after you finish that, please pay a visit to Kaiba Land," she spoke closing her laptop.

Michiru raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Just do it."

The door slammed close behind Setsuna.

* * *

It was a dark, windy evening, when a thunderstorm raged. The Yugi-tachi was gathered in the Kame Game shop. And little Yugi was very-very annoyed at the moment. He sighed for the umpteenth time. The last few days Yami had been much more upbeat than before something the meeting with Usagi Crawford had achieved. And as Yami had confided, she was contacting him with some weird device she planted into his soul room. And usually it happened around six, and now it was already eight o'clock.

'Why is she not contacting me, like she promised…' hissed the spirit, pacing in the room, unseen by their friends who were gushing over the new arrivals in Duel Monsters, as his grandpa showed the cards.

'Chill, Yami, maybe Usagi-chan is busy. Her father is in a coma and she needs to manage a large international company. It must be taxing.' Yugi thought back to the spirit, who huffed and paused in his pacing crossing his arms.

'Then she needs my support and should stay near me,' he said as if stating the obvious. Yugi sweat dropped.

'Someone sounds possessive…' he taunted.

The red eyes were fixed on him, as they stared each other down. One in amusement, the other in irritation. 'Aibou…' Yami warned.

Yugi chuckled at the sight of Yami's frustrated face. 'Hahaha, chill… just relax, I'm sure everything is fine, she might be just working late,' he waved at the spirit, who reluctantly floated over to his friends, disinterestedly watching the new cards.

"Look, there's a new card coming in," said Sugoroku.

"Which one, which one?" exclaimed Jounoochi. There was another clap from the storm outside, as the bright white suddenly filled the Kame Game shop, as someone had opened the front door.

Yami stared wide-eyed at the arrival, as Yugi turned around. It was Mokuba; he looked haggard, as he breathed heavily at the entrance, holding his chest, fighting for breath.

"Yugi…" he muttered.

"Mokuba-kun."

"You have to help me…" pleaded the young boy.

"What's wrong, Mokuba?" asked Anzu. But the black-haired boy on rambled something incoherent. The brunette sweat dropped. "Ok, what about saying that a little bit slower?"

"Big brother has been kidnapped by the Big Five!" exclaimed Mokuba. And at that exact moment, into the shop came barging Ryuji Otogi, who rarely if ever showed up here, unless he was an errand from Usagi.

"Serenity has been kidnapped," he shouted. And immediately Yami replaced Yugi. The smaller boy made a face at Yami, as he hovered in the spirit form beside him.

"When did that happen?" hissed the spirit angrily, flexing his fingers, as everyone in Kame Game shop shivered at the sudden reality of the shadows around them, as they hissed and snarled in sync with their master's anger.

"She was on her way to a meeting with Kaiba…" he began.

Yet Mokuba interrupted him. "They must have kidnapped them together to get their revenge," exclaimed the young boy.

"Revenge?" blinked Anzu in confusion.

"Big brother and Usagi-san fired the Big Five for being traitors and two-timers," explained Mokuba, as Jounoochi guffawed.

"Two-timer is not a word that should be used in this case," he laughed. Mokuba growled angrily at the older boy, as he went up and kicked him in the shin.

"Does it really matter? We need to save Big Brother and Usagi-san!" stated Mokuba, not minding the blond jumping around him in pain.

"He's right. Where are they?" said Yami.

"They are probably trapped in that game," said Mokuba. "I've heard them speak about trapping their minds forever in the Virtual Reality game, so that it would seem as if they were testing a new product." Everyone gasped in the realization of the cruel plan the five less than virtuous men were planning to conduct against Seto and Usagi.

"But Industrial Illusions CEO and Kaibacorp CEO testing a product together, wouldn't it be suspicious?" asked Anzu, raising an eyebrow.

Mokuba chuckled. "Well… both deal with games, so no. And if they lose or die there, they will never be able to return."

Ryuji slammed his fist against the wall. "That's not a game!" he hissed, yes flashing between violet and green, as Jounoochi and Honda backed away from the pissed youth.

"Yugi, please save my brother," implored Mokuba.

"We have to help Serenity!" said Ryuji, as Yami darkly glared in front of him.

"But we'll be in trouble if the Big 5 come after us," noted Sugoroku idly. The group shuddered, it was true: what if they decided to come after them, while they were saving Usagi and Seto, and they would get stuck in the game too. Once more the lightning flooded with light the shop, and as everyone shielded their eyes, two outlines of feminine figures became visible in the flash of light.

"Don't worry, we'll be going there with you!" said a familiar voice. The light died down and the light inside the shop alit familiar features. Dressed in dark blue jeans with a baby-doll dress colored in soft earthly colors, there stood Makoto, her green eyes hard and cold like emeralds, which they resembled so much. Next to her leaning against the door stood Ami Mizuno, her dark blue eyes covered by a thin blue visor, dressed in black capris and a white shirt with blue embroideries.

"Makoto-san! Ami-san!" exclaimed Mokuba, seemingly relieved by their presence.

"Ah, I'm glad you're here. But where are the other ones?" asked Ryuji. It was apparent that he was the one, who summoned the other Senshi.

"I guess they still need to see the message. But we were the closest," replied Ami.

Mokuba's face brightened. "Ami-san. You'll help too?" he shyly asked.

Ami smiled at the smaller boy grinning: "Of course, Mokuba-kun, don't you worry, we'll get your brother and Usagi-chan back so quickly you won't be able to blink!"

Makoto smirked darkly, cracking her knuckles, "Yes, don't worry, we'll help." She said in a voice that promised pain to their enemies.

* * *

Mokuba led them to a closed amusement park, Kaiba Land, explaining that the rest of the Kaibacorp was without a doubt monitored by the Big 5 waiting for him to return with his brother's deck.

"Oi, Makoto. Ami. What's going on?"

Everyone jumped around, battle-ready, the Yugi-tachi glaring suspiciously at them. Ami, Makoto and Ryuji relaxed immediately upon recognizing the two: Haruka and Michiru.

"Did you check you messages?" asked Ami.

Haruka shook her head. "We were slaving away for Setsuna and Usagi!" she said with some disdain about the fact.

"Who are they?" asked Yami, warily observing the two women.

"They are two more Senshi. Uranus and Neptune," replied Ryuji. The two Senshi of the Outer Solar System stared in shock at him revealing their identities so easily to random people.

They wanted to argue about that, but Yami beat them with the bit of information they obviously didn't know. "Usagi has been kidnapped," he said quietly. Haruka froze with her mouth open.

"What!" breathed out Michiru, looking to Ami in shock. The blue-haired girl nodded solemnly.

"We need to enter the same game and help them defeat it, if we want them to get out," said Makoto.

Haruka blinked. "Them?"

"They kidnapped Kaiba-san as well. I think it's a plot to gain control of the corporations," noted Mokuba.

Haruka growled angrily, as she stomped up to them. "I ought to break their necks!"

Mokuba grinned at the two women, whom he knew to be personal assistants of Usagi Crawford. "I'll climb over, and open from the other side," he said turning around to the gates, his hand reaching towards the bars.

"Wait, Mokuba!" screeched Makoto, suddenly tackling him.

"Hey!" exclaimed the young boy angered by her interruption. But the tall girl shook her head, and walked up to the gates quickly touching the bars and pulling away, as lightning started coursing in her hand, wincing slightly at the foreign current.

Michiru frowned in thought: "Electricity running through the bars. What now?"

Haruka glanced in consideration at Mokuba; "I can probably jump over with you in tow. Hope you're not scared of height," she teased and grabbed the young boy, by his shirt, despite his protests. She knelt down, calling upon the power of the wind and then jumped. The wind sang in her ears, as it helped her inhuman jump, and she flipped over the gates landing on the other side.

Slightly disoriented by the flight, Mokuba unlocked the gates, letting the others in.

"Remind me never to mess with you people," spoke Honda staring flabbergasted at Haruka, who smirked at him haughtily. The group of ten continued their way into Kaiba Land, going into an unfinished zone of the amusement park. Mokuba quickly inserted access codes, gaining access to a large room with several virtual reality pods in the room.

"Here we are," said Mokuba immediately running to the control center, followed closely by Ami, who activated the Mercury Supercomputer. Finally the black-haired boy looked up excitedly. "All right! We can get into the game. Get into the pods."

Anzu counted the pods in the room and then looked over their group. "There only eight, while there is ten of us," she said. Honda counted over the pods again.

"I say you two stay," Michiru shrugged, pointedly looking at Honda And Anzu, obviously hinting at the fact the two were pretty much useless in battles.

Anzu bristled in response. "No way! We're going with Yugi!" she cried out.

Haruka smirked. "We are trained soldiers, we're more useful!" she pointed out.

Ami looked up from the control screen sighing in irritation. Their banter was bothering her and she couldn't concentrate on analyzing the game. She rubbed her temples looking between Michiru and Haruka, and Honda and Anzu. Finally she sighed and spoke: "Exactly the reason why you should stay outside, Michiru-san, Haruka-san," she said.

Michiru and Haruka blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"This game is based on Duel Monsters, neither of you two know how to duel," spoke Ami calmly, "But there is a large chance that we will be fond out by the Big 5 and they will send their people to disconnect the machine," her eyes narrowed in thought, "Should that happen, we will be forever lost in cyberspace."

Her gaze jumped from one person to the other quickly analyzing their strength and weaknesses and what they could offer to their venture. Yes, it was for the best. "So, as you see, you should actually stay here," Ami said, "Out of all of us, you are most efficient at combat and will be able to protect our bodies, while they are at their most vulnerable states."

Haruka nodded reluctantly, obviously disheartened by the dismissal. "Fine. I can see your point," she said.

Ryuji jumped into a pod. "Alright, then let us go," he said.

Makoto climbed in next to him, as she pumped her fist into the air: "Time to kick some villains' ass again."

Ryuji blanched. "Lady Makoto, that is unbecoming of you…" he scolded, earning a glare from the tomboyish girl.

"Oh shush, you ladies boy," she chided.

Michiru in the meanwhile walked up to Yami, who was getting into a pod himself. She grabbed his hands, "You have to come back." With Usagi. That was the unspoken. But he understood. "Don't worry. We'll save our friends and come back," Yami replied to the turquoise-haired woman, gripping her hands supportively. He too was worried about Usagi.

"We're counting on you, Haruka and Michiru," spoke Ami, as she lowered herself into the pod.

"Okay, we are starting the machine now," said Haruka, once she saw that everyone had mounted the headgear and was ready for the launch of the game.

"Good luck, guys!" said Michiru and the sound of the machines humming as the game started filled the air. And then there was only darkness for those that entered the virtual world.

* * *

"Mokuba is back," spoke Konosuke Oshita, the former vice-president of Kaibacorp.

"Along with Yugi and friends of Usagi," noted Shuzo Otaki, the ex-accountant of the company.

Chikuzen Oka smirked. "I told you he would return for his brother." He pressed a button, calling the guards they had stationed conveniently near Kaiba Land. The image of Sarutawari came up.

"Go to Kaiba Land now. Make sure Yugi Mutou and his friends stay in the game," he said to the pointy-haired lackey.

'Yes, sir' The guard saluted them and the screen switched off.

"Time for us to join the game as well," said Kogoro Daimon smirking darkly. The Big Five stood up and left the conference room, heading for the virtual reality pods.

* * *

They awoke in complete darkness, disoriented and only the light of a hologram screen hovering in front of them providing light. Makoto groaned in pain, as she stood up, her head throbbing. She glanced up at the only source of light frowning: who was this green-haired kid? She glanced around: there was Yami, Jounoochi, Ami and Mokuba. They too were stirring, awakening from the shift in realities that knocked them out.

Once everyone came to themselves, the strange youth on the screen, whom Makoto at first thought to be a non-player-character started speaking.

_'Welcome, Yugi Mutou and friends to my game.'_ Immediately everyone was on high-alert.

Yami looked up, his eyes blazing: "Who are you?" he growled.

The youth chuckled darkly. _'Now, now, don't get so angry. My name shall be yet revealed. For now you should concentrate on finding Seto and Usagi, after that we will begin my game.'_

"Why not play it now?" challenged the pharaoh.

_'I am not hasty. We'll see again once you manage to find your friends.'_

Makoto looked around in worry. "Where are Anzu, Honda and Ryuji?" she asked.

_'They are in another part of the game. You'll meet them once you finish the first part. Until later, Yugi-tachi,'_ said the boy and the hologram screen faded and around them a forest appeared.

"Do you know him Mokuba?" asked Ami, "Does he have something against your brother?"

Mokuba shrugged. "I don't know him. I thought only the Big 5 were behind it."

Ami frowned, as she flipped on her visor screen summoning the Mercury Supercomputer, much to the surprise of Mokuba. Her fingers danced across the keyboard nimbly. "We will deal with him when the time comes," she said. Her hand raised and pointed in the direction of the sunset. "For now, we need to go in that direction."

"What's that?" asked Mokuba pointing at the blue minicomputer.

"Mercury Supercomputer," said Ami.

Makoto flexed her hand wondering if she could summon her lighting, and she could! The feeling of the alternating current coursing through her veins was familiar and provided solace in this strange and foreign world. "So we do have our powers here," she murmured wistfully.

Ami quickly ran a scan on the present players. "This Virtual Reality got our souls into the game along with our minds," she stated. Her gaze quickly darted to the three dueling disks attached to Mokuba's, Jounoochi's and Yami's hands. She frowned for a second, but then shook her head.

"I don't think us not having any decks should be a problem," the blue-haired genius said.

"This world is connected to Duel Monsters. I wonder what rules they use," murmured Jounoochi.

Yami crossed his arms. "We must be careful."

"I know," replied the blond.

Ami started leading the search party, while Makoto tagged in the back, watching out for any possible enemies. This also gave her a perfect opportunity to observe the spirit of the Puzzle, Yami. He was a very strange being, but as far as she noticed, he was completely loyal to Usagi. In some ways she would even say that he was too loyal to her friend and princess.

It also unsettled her in more than one way, the way Usagi seemed to choose him. She still remembered the way his energy mixed with hers, as Luna later explained, they were forming an unbreakable bond between them. Her cautious emerald eyes shifted to Yami's prideful form. Sure, he was someone from their past, but why did she give up so easily on Mamoru.

"A graveyard," spoke Yami suddenly, as the group came to a halt. Makoto lazily observed the stretching desolate landscape beneath them, more intent on studying the red-eyed male. Well, she supposed she could accept Usagi's choice. If she loved him, then it was fine. But she would keep her eyes on him for a while.

"It doesn't look like it's going to be easy to pass," spoke Mokuba dejectedly. The poor kid was very worried about his brother. It was endearing. The tall girl ruffled affectionately the short boy's hair, as she chuckled.

"Don't worry, you have two Sailor Senshi on your side," said Ami grinning brightly at him. Mokuba stuck his tongue out at Makoto.

"You're weird," he noted.

Makoto laughed. "Haha, says the pipsqueak who helps his brother manage his company."

Ouch! He pulled at her hair. "I'm not a pipsqueak!" he vehemently denied, crossing his arms. That hurt. Well… he would enjoy the flight down then. Grinning mischievously Makoto grabbed the black-haired boy, leaping down from the cliff into the cemetery, chuckling as the boy screamed in terror. The others quickly followed her, sliding down the steep side of the cliff.

Jounoochi was the last to make it down. He glanced around nervously. "The scenery here looks familiar," whined the blond. Makoto's ears twitched. Just now, she heard something. A sudden feeling of coldness invaded her body, as the smell of freshly dug up graves attacked her nose.

"Zombie monsters!" shrieked Ami, pointing behind them. The emerald eyed female whirled around to see three decaying monsters advancing in their direction, menacingly howling. Well, she supposed she would have to get her arms dirty.

"I'll deal with them!" she yelled racing towards the zombies, "Lightning Strike!" cried out the tall girl, her fist surging with electric currents, as she slammed her fist into one of the monsters.

"Shine Aqua Cutter!" cried out Ami, as she raced towards the enemy, jumping in he midst of them thin razor-sharp ice-sheets formed around her. The blue-haired girl raised her leg and spun around slamming the sheets in the zombies, cutting the enemies apart. The two Senshi leapt back towards the group to observe their handiwork but much to their horror the zombies started rebuilding themselves.

"They reformed!" shouted Ami in distress.

Jounoochi gasped. "I remember this! I dealt with them in the Duelist Kingdom!" He held up a card. "Shield in the Right Hand, Sword in the Left Hand!" The images of the zombies distorted slightly, but Mokuba didn't waste any time.

"Alright!" he held up a card, "Now! Kaiser Dragon! Destroy them!" The black dragon was summoned from his deck and immediately attacked the monsters. This time they vanished and didn't reform.

"It worked!" cheered Makoto, happy that she wouldn't have to punch through the disgusting monsters anymore. She made a face, at the goo smoldering on her hand, from before when she punched through one of them before.

"What's this?" she asked, noting something lying on the ground in stead of the monsters.

Ami picked up the card, "Loot. In games monsters leave behind stuff for the heroes to use." As she turned the card around, something small fluttered in front of her. Her blue eyes widened as she saw the small form, clad in blue robes smiling mirthfully at her.

"Look, a faerie!" said Jounoochi, poking the small being, as it affronted by his actions batted his finger with a small staff and sped away.

Ami took off after he faerie, following the small sparkles left in its wake. "Faeries usually hold clues in games. Let's follow it," she shouted back to her friends. Immediately they darted afterwards.

"Wait up, faerie!" shouted Jounoochi speeding past her. Yet as they rounded a large stone, the faerie was nowhere in sight.

"Damn, we lost him," cursed Yami. Makoto looked around in the bushes, searching for the small form, hoping that he may have some clues about Seto and Usagi.

"Guys, look!" exclaimed Mokuba suddenly. The Jupiter Senshi looked up only to see Mokuba frozen, as he looked down from the mountain they were at into the distance.

"What is, Mokuba-kun?" asked Yami coming over with Jounoochi.

"There's a town," shouted the blond. Without further discussions, only checking with Mercury's data they already had. The town was a small desert village, which had no technology and looked like something out of the history books. After a while the group spread out to look for clues, deciding to meet by the fountains later on.

* * *

In rained heavily in Tokyo when she arrived back from London with the paperwork Usagi needed. Although they were planning to meet only the next day, she felt unease growing in her heart.

"Something strange is going on," whispered Hotaru, as she tucked her umbrella under her arm, pulling out the communicators Setsuna had given out to all of them. She would just contact Usagi and check up on her. She was probably being paranoid over nothing.

"Oh, Hotaru-san!" The pale girl quickly tucked away her communicator and whirled around to the one who addressed her. It was Ryou Bakura, his gentle brown eyes she would recognize anywhere. Because they were so different from _his _eyes. "Haven't seen you in awhile," he said waving in greeting to her.

"You're…" Hotaru trailed off. Was it really necessary for her to ask how was the Spirit of the Ring. The boy disliked that spirit, and only since it seemed to have changed for the better tolerated the other presence in his mind.

Ryou frowned at her silence. "I'm Ryou Bakura," he explained, as Hotaru blushed. He thought she didn't remember him anymore. "We met at the Duelist Kingdom," he said.

Hotaru smiled at him. "Is the Ring bothering you anymore?" she asked.

For a second he flushed, and then looked down nervously. "Ah… no… the spirit mellowed out. I think," he spoke, twirling his fingers around anxiously. Hotaru giggled at his antics, it was too endearing. He really was just too different from that bastard stuck in the ring.

He looked up, licking his lips. "Where you waiting for someone?" the boy asked looking away, a thin sheet of red covering his cheeks.

Hotaru blinked. "Oh, no, I just arrived back from London. Had to care of some business for Usagi-chan," she explained.

His blush deepened, although his expression immediately brightened. "Ah, alright. I was just going to grab a cup of coffee, care to join me?" he quickly blurted out. For a second Hotaru froze in surprise, but then smiled sweetly.

"I guess I can." It wouldn't hurt to grab a cup of coffee, before going home to her grandmother, at least she would get her mind off the eerie feeling she had. No, now that Sailor Moon was reawakened, and she constantly had someone watching over her, nothing could even happen. She was just being paranoid. It was all the fault of the dark skies and the rain.

* * *

They met up an hour later at the fountains.

"Anyone? Anything?" asked Ami looking around. Her trace led them to the desert, but they needed to be sure of that. But their small group shook their heads.

"I've got something," came a shout. It was Mokuba, who was running back to them, looking quite excited. "Someone was taken to the Cave of Death this morning," he breathed out. He brought them to the edge of the city, where the same desert to which her trace led spread sandstorms ravaging the barren land.

Jounoochi shivered. "That way? Well, I suppose we'll manage that," he said laughing nervously.

Yami looked at her inquiringly. "It does follow the trace my computer gives me," Ami confirmed.

Makoto frowned as she stared into the never-ending sand world. "Could it have been someone from our friends?" she murmured, thinking about the hint Mokuba got in the city.

"We have to check it out," said the young Kaiba brother. Ami's lips tightened. It seemed to easy to just cross a desert for an RPG. There was probably something they had to do to cross.

"Let's go," said Yami.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, "What if it's a trap?" she asked. But no one listened to her, as everyone preoccupied by the thought of their friends in danger started moving into the dangerous environment. Sighing Ami followed the other group, her fingers dancing across her computer, as she continued analyzing their surroundings.

The wind only got stronger and barely anything could be seen. She had taken the lead, Mokuba holding the hem of her shirt, as everyone moved slowly in a line, so as not to get lost in the treacherous sandstorm.

"That's impossible! Let's go back," was heard over the howling of the wind. It was Jounoochi, who was tagging in the end, looking quite out of breath. Makoto growled, taking him by his collar and dragging him forwards.

"Shut up, we have to try!" she growled.

Mercury's computer started beeping, alerting her to impending danger. Her head flew up, as she saw a sandstorm advancing on them. Even as she screamed for them to retreat, not only was she not heard, but also the storm was faster, embracing them, as it battered their bodies.

* * *

The rain poured heavily outside, and pedestrians were running for cover, but the sweet smell of cappuccino topped with whipped cream and cinnamon provided a sweet dream of warmth and comfort, as they sat in silence in a small cozy café. Hotaru glanced up hesitantly at Ryou, who seemed to be looking anywhere but at her.

She sighed. "I can see that there is something troubling you," she finally said startling the gentle youth. He flushed red, looking down, gripping his cup.

Slowly he spoke: "Ah, no, it's just that I keep always thinking back to that Shadow Duel…"

Hotaru frowned. "Yes? What about it?" That event. She remembered how ready she was to attack this same boy, if only to stop the nightmare. It was the first time Usagi called upon her power in this incarnation.

He looked up, a strange intensity within his brown eyes. For a second she felt taken aback by the turmoil of emotions within his gaze. "It's just that I feel strangely connected to you…" he said.

"What?" breathed out Hotaru. For a brief moment she felt as if these words were already spoken once before, but someone very similar to him, yet so different, but the same in essence. She chased the disturbing thought away, urging him on to continue.

He flushed a bright red, realizing what he had hinted at. "Ah, what I meant is that," Ryou stuttered out after taking a sip of his coffee, "when you spoke of being not in control of your actions, and then seeing the past that Luna-san showed to us…" He trailed off, hunching slightly as she stared him down.

"Ah, the Mistress 9 event…" murmured Hotaru slowly, realizing what he was talking about. As he mentioned it, memories of being absolutely helpless and unable to help her friends resurfaced.

Her hands clutched at the cup, as the nightmarish event was brought up again. "It must have been horrible… how did you deal with it later," a warm soft hand covered her trembling one. Hotaru jerked slightly, as she looked up, to see only pure sympathy and the same kind of pain in his brown eyes.

Softly smiling Hotaru chased the dark thoughts away. She was over it. She was stronger than her. She already proved it. "Ah, my friends helped me to get through," said the pale girl. "It took awhile for me to find out, I wasn't at fault anyways."

"I see." Ryou let go of her hands, and for a second the cold draft that was in the café made her miss the warmth of his hands.

Hotaru blushed slightly at the treacherous thought, and fought the foreign feeling. "Don't worry, it'll pass…" she bit out timidly.

"I know," Ryou breathed out solemnly. He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but then brightened up, and smiling widely asked: "So what business did you have in London?"

The tense atmosphere was gone and Hotaru welcomed the change. It was not good to dwell on unnecessary nightmarish memories of the past. They only had the present and the future to look forward. No use in living in the past. "Ah, well, we're transferring to Domino High School," she said.

"Really?" exclaimed Ryou, suddenly blushing at his outcry, which caused a lot of patrons to glance at them curiously, he straightened as he lowered his voice, coughing slightly, "I guess Yami will be pretty happy. He was pretty unsettled since Usagi-chan hadn't contacted him, well that's what Yugi said," he grinned lightly, "Yami vehemently denied that." Ryou raised the sugar spoon from his cup, as he waved it around chuckling at the memory.

Hotaru giggled. She couldn't imagine how amusing Yami must have looked, when flustered by simple truths. "That's… amusing," she said. "But, yes, Usagi-chan has been pretty busy," her voice became a mere whisper, "Because Pegasus-san is in a coma."

The teaspoon Ryou held went clattering down.

* * *

He blinked groggily, trying to discern anything in his blurry sight. "Yugi? Yugi, are you okay?" The voice repeated. His vision focused and he found himself back in control, the presence of Yami lingering back in his puzzle. Yugi sat up looking around in wonder.

"Where are we?" the small youth asked.

It was Yami who answered, his voice echoing in the back of his mind. 'We're back in the suburb. The storm rattled me quite a bit, I'll rest a bit and come out if necessary.'

'Alright,' replied Yugi, slightly worried for the spirit of the pharaoh. Without a doubt he tried to take all the strain onto himself. Yugi looked up, Ami was comforting the young Kaiba brother.

"Mokuba, don't despair, we'll get there somehow," she said softly petting the boy's wild hair. Yugi's lips twitched into a smile. He would so bet that Seto wouldn't quite approve the way Mokuba searched for comfort in the ethereal Sailor Senshi of the Sylvan Empire.

A short stringy laughed came from behind them, as Jounoochi whirled around angrily to see an elderly man in a rocking chair. "What's so funny?" he bit out.

"You want to cross the desert?" asked the man.

"You know something about it, old man?" wondered Jounoochi.

A smirk crossed the man's lips. "You need a Niwatori Card to cross the desert."

Makoto slapped her forehead. "Should've guessed we would need something of the duel monsters."

"How can we get it?" asked Yugi politely.

But the man only repeated his last line. "You need a Niwatori Card to cross the desert."

"You just said that, but where can we get it," deadpanned Makoto. But the man once more repeated the same phrase. Jounoochi and Makoto were about to blow their fuse, apparent from their flushed angry faces, but Ami came up.

"Guys, this is a non-playable-character, they have a limited vocabulary," she said breaking the two from their anger. Slightly discouraged by the fact that no more information, Mokuba more so that anyone else, they decided to split up once more and search for clues.

Ami laid a hand onto Mokuba's shoulder. "Ah, let's split up and search for the card, Mokuba-kun," she said smiling encouragingly.

* * *

Haruka glanced anxiously at the eight pods that held the bodies of those who had entered the game, her eyebrows scrunching together. "They've been in there for quite a while, do you think they can manage it?" she mused out loud, moving away to one of them, as she looked down to observe the boy named Yugi, the one who was the vessel for the nameless pharaoh's soul. She still had to make up her mind about this red-eyed spirit. He seemed genuinely concerned for her princess's safety, even more anxious and frustrated than they were. Than she was! And Haruka was not one to be calm when her friends were in danger.

Michiru sighed, leaning across the control table, "We have to believe them. Even if that Yugi-kid is a genius, and he harbors the spirit of an undefeatable pharaoh and has Ami-san to help them, they still need to finish the game."

Haruka slumped against the pod, her thoughts jumbled. What if they didn't manage to get Usagi out of this game? "I know, I know. But still, I am worried. I just wonder, where they are being held, Usagi and Seto, I mean." That was something that worried her even more. Because if the ones who kidnapped them had their bodies, they could just kill them.

Michiru jumped suddenly up, her eyes wide in realization, "Pluto knew about this. She told us specifically to come here."

Haruka narrowed her eyes in anger. Setsuna knew about this event? Why didn't' she stop it from ever happening in the first place. What if their future would be now endangered just because she let time flow as usual? Michiru crossed her arms, tapping the bridge of her nose with one finger. "Well, I don't think she'll let any harm come to Usagi's body," she finally said resentfully.

"I sure hope she won't…" whispered Haruka. She had to get her mind away from the troubling thoughts. And she just had an idea… She looked slightly mischievously towards Michiru, who made a face, instantly realizing her intentions. "But, anyways, Michi-chan, let's spend some quality time, why we're alone…" drawled out the sandy-haired blonde, sneaking up to her and embracing her wantonly.

Michiru flushed in embarrassment, "Hey, you, do you even realize the seriousness of the situation." Haruka grinned leaning down to nibble on Michiru's ear, but a distant sound of the metal doors sliding open halted her playful advances.

"Did you hear that?" murmured Michiru, darting towards the door. As they snuck a peak outside, another flash of lightning illuminated the forms of ten security guards.

"Just as expected," noted the Senshi of Wind dryly, "I guess we won't be bored that much anymore." She smirked darkly cracking her knuckles.

* * *

"We've looked everywhere," sighed Mokuba, trying to catch his breath. They spent hours running around the village-city, but no Niwatori card was found in any of the shops.

Jounoochi scratched the back of his head. "Could it be a game bug?"

"Perhaps," murmured Ami once more concentrated on her computer.

A yell startled them. "Hey guys! I found it." It was Yugi and Makoto. Excitedly the two led them to a coliseum. Right outside there was a large sign, with the necessary cad printed on it.

"_Want to challenge the champions? The prize is the Niwatori Card. Waiting for courageous challengers, owner of the Coliseum," _read out loud Mokuba.

"All right! I'll be the challenger!" exclaimed Jounoochi excitedly. The group made their way inside to speak with the owner of the Coliseum, who was a reptilian like man, looking very much like a frog.

"What? You want challenge the champions? Not bad, you have gut, but you need to form a team of three. One will duel the dueling champion. The other one will battle with our chess champion. And the third one will fight on weapons with the warrior champion," he said.

Jounoochi grinned: this would be easy. "Alright, Yugi you deal with the chess and dueling champion, and I'll deal with the warrior champion," he boasted.

Makoto smacked the back of his head. "Not in this life. Ami will deal with the chess champion, and I will deal with the warrior champion. _You _can deal with the dueling champion," she huffed angrily.

Then suddenly the Coliseum manager grinned and signed some papers. "Alright, accepted!"

"What, wait…" began arguing Yugi. But no matter how much they pleaded, the owner didn't let them change the participants.

Rubbing her temples, trying to alleviate the impending headache, Ami growled, "Ah, fine. Let's go." Everyone stared in shock at the sweet calm Ami, who never even raised her voice. **Slurp.** The owner swallowed a fly that was flying around him, catching it with his long tongue.

"Wear these," he extended his hands that held some weird masks, and no one could even find the guts to argue, because… really… eating a fly, that was disgusting.

* * *

Flushing in his ridiculous get up, Jounoochi strutted out to the arena to the loud yelling of the announcer. "Ladies and gentlemen, the challengers are about to enter the stage. A frightening guy, who'll defeat the big bad wolf to protect his brothers, protector of pigs, killer of wolves, Jou!"

Jounoochi sweat dropped as the public began to boo and throw insults at him. "Idiot! You're going to lose for sure!"

Following him came out Makoto garbed in a pink mantle and wearing a pink rabbit mask. "The next challenger is a rabbit from the meadows. She will fight the big bad lion, to protect her kin, Mako!"

She didn't seem too excited to wear that getup either. "How can she even hope to defeat Silver Lion-sama!"

But the worse getup was given to Ami. She was wearing a bright neon green robe completed by a neon green worm mask. "And the final one is a bookworm. She will challenge Blue Prince."

"Why do we even have to wear these masks…" hissed Ami angrily as she came to stand next to him.

"I want to kill them all," growled Makoto flexing her hands. Jounoochi laughed nervously, backing away from the two Senshi, whose angry aura was almost visible.

"Welcome, champions. Butterfly Queen! Silver Lion! And the Blue Prince."

The doors on the other side of arena opened and in came three figures. One was a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a flashy butterfly mask, she was followed closely by two males. One had silver-haired and a venetian silver mask was obscuring his features, wearing a prim white suit he looked not that dangerous, but the heavy claymore at his back proved the spectator of his true value. The last person was a man with dark blue, almost black hair, his face was covered by a white mask.

"First will come the dueling match. Butterfly Queen vs the Protector of Pigs!"

The butterfly lady walked forwards and Jounoochi knew that was his cue. They took their stand several feet from each other, as the butterfly lady taunted haughtily: "I'll let you know, how stupid it is to fight against me."

"Shut up! We'll see who the champ is," growled Jounoochi in reply.

"Battle begin!"

Immediately he summoned one of his favorite cards. "Go, Flame Swordsman!" The flame warrior raised his sword.

"Then, I'll use this. Harpy Lady," his opponent replied evenly, in a very familiar way

"Harpy Lady, how weak," scoffed Jounoochi, "Attack, Flame Swordsman." The swordsman charged towards the Harpy Lady who watched him advance on her with a calm look upon her pale blue-skinned face.

A loud laugh came from the butterfly duelist. "You're too naïve! I know your tactic!" A shimmering mirror wall came out around the Harpy Lady, as she gave another high-pitched laugh. "Want to fight my Harpy Lady? Wait another 100 years," she boasted. Jounoochi almost fell over. He could have guessed so from the beginning. Who else had this annoying high-pitched laugh and was so haughty.

"I should have guessed," he growled, taking off his mask.

The butterfly duelist reeled back. "Huh! Jounoochi-kun!" She took of her own mask and sure enough, that was Mai Kujaku.

"Mai?" shrieked Makoto in surprise.

Mai looked around, noting the presence of their friends who also removed their masks and Yugi and Mokuba who came running to them from the viewer stands. "Yugi! Mokuba! What are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking that," replied Yugi.

"My brother has been kidnapped. And so was Usagi-san," said Mokuba.

Ami sighed. "If we don't pass this game, they will be in danger."

Mai paled. "Who kidnapped the queen?" she breathed out, as the white-haired and the blue-haired man came up to them, confused by the happening.

"Wait? Serenity was kidnapped?" gasped the white-haired man.

Makoto zeroed in on the white-haired man, glaring suspiciously at him. "Alright, Mai, who the hell are they."

Mai blinked. "Oh, I guess you haven't met them in this life yet," she waved her hand.

"In this life?" repeated Ami, just as the two took off their masks. The two Senshi shuffled backwards, their eyes narrowed, as they took a battle stance.

"Diamond! Sapphire!" hissed Makoto, backing away, ready to attack. What were they doing here?

"Makoto-san," the blue-haired guy smiled pleasantly, "Ami-san. It's good to see you again." Reluctantly the two Senshi relaxed their battle stances.

"They've been reborn also. Demando Ace and Saffir Ace are the champions of the states," clarified Mai, introducing the two guys. Demando Ace was the white-haired guy, the best in the US, as far as Jounoochi knew, and Saffir Ace was the blue-haired one, his younger brother and the runner-up.

"You said Serenity has been kidnapped," said Demando.

"We'll help, if you need it," noted Saffir.

Mai crossed her arms, "Then we have to leave now, no time to waste." The crowd in the coliseum started going wild demanding the battle to be finished, as the players looked around nervously.

"There is no other way. We need that card," said Yugi. Jounoochi and Mai shared an uneasy look, but then Mai grinned.

"Yugi, you just need that card?" she asked, as the frail youth hesitantly nodded. "Actually, we'd love to get out of here ourselves," she grinned and pointed towards the Niwatori card that lay near the owner of the Coliseum. "Harpy!" At her call the blue-skinned bird-woman struck out with her whip, encircling the card and pulling them to them.

Makoto cheered. "Nice catch!" The owner froze, before ordering the guards to follow them. "Let's run!" shouted Ami.

"Don't let them get away," shouted the owner, as Ami whirled around and threw her mask right into his face. "Ack!" He toppled backwards.

"That was a nice one, Ami-san," chuckled Saffir, breaking into a run along with them.

Ami flushed in embarrassment. "Thank you, Saffir-san." The yells of the villagers chasing them became louder, just as Demando bristled in irritation whipping around.

"Annoying," he murmured extending his arm. A strange dark light came from his forehead and the villagers all fell down, knocked out of it.

"What happened?" asked Yugi.

Demando shrugged. "I put them to sleep."

They continued their way back to the desert, where Mai at once summoned the Niwatori. Once everyone had mounted one, they started making their way through the desert.

* * *

He came to himself, his arms and legs strapped to a stone cross. "Where am I?" whispered Seto Kaiba glancing around warily. Straining his head, he could see the outlines of Usagi S. Crawford limply hanging from a similar cross as he did. "Usagi-san?" he called out. She did not stir. So Seto raised his voice. "Hey, wake up! Wake up!" After a few more rounds of shouting, Usagi startled, looking around wildly as much confused by their surroundings as he was.

"Why are we tied up? What happened?" she asked.

Seto frowned. Who had the gall to do that to him? "I don't know," he admitted, "The last thing I remember I was going to a meeting with you."

"Same here," replied Usagi trying to break loose from the ropes that tied her to the stone cross. Seto resumed his attempts to break free, but it was futile as suddenly the ropes tightened painfully and a violet-clad figure stepped into light in front of them.

"Ah, you're finally awake," he spoke, "Seto Kaiba, Usagi S. Crawford," their names spat like poison.

Usagi screeched in surprise: "Witty Phantom?"

Seto jolted in shock. "This looks like my game…" he murmured, as the Witty Phantom scuffled around, preparing for something.

"What are you going to do?" snarled Seto.

A dark grin came to the Monster's face. "What else? Sacrifice you two to the Mythic Dragon!" he taunted. Seto paled. This _was _his game. A prototype virtual reality, which would have launched in Kaiba Land in a few months. But why were they here? Who brought them here? Usagi looked at him questioningly.

Seto struggled against his bonds urgently. "Let me out and play this game with you. I'll show you the true meaning of despair," he shouted, as Usagi winced.

"Now why would I do that?" stated the Witty Phantom, "I have two of my sacrifices and everything is being prepared. Your friends won't make it in time." An evil grin distorted his features, as his voice changed into a voice very familiar to Seto and Usagi. Kogoro Daimon, one of the Big Five, spoke through the Duel Monster to them. "Besides this game is programmed to stop you in any way. Including not letting you two play it."

* * *

They had made their way through the desert and had ended up in the Cave of Death, which had a Labyrinth. Ami was furiously typing across her computer, calculating the correct way out of the maze.

"Just a second," she murmured, adding final equations, as a sudden scream startled them all.

"Did you hear that?" gasped out Jounoochi and immediately ran off into the maze.

"Wait up, Jounoochi! That idiot," shouted Mai, annoyed by his reaction, "Fast response hearing a girl scream."

Demando grinned mischievously, "My, Lady Mai, you sound jealous," he noted.

"You're pushing your luck, Demando," Mai replied haughtily.

And that was how they found Meyari-sama, the ruler of the kingdom they resided in. She decided to thank them for their help and took them to their castle, where she would at once try to provide help for them in their quest to free Seto and Usagi. Meyari looked a lot like Mokuba, a small fact that annoyed the young brat to no end.

Jounoochi, who was sitting at Mai's side coughed frantically trying to push the food down his throat.

"Jounoochi, slow down!" scolded Mai, "You're in the presence of Meyari-sama, the queen of this castle, two Sailor Senshi, real queens and of course King Diamond and Prince Sapphire."

Jounoochi looked between Demando and Saffir, "So let me get this straight. These guys are also from your past."

Immediately Yugi straightened, but Demando held up a hand, "Yes, we are. Yugi, you may tell the pharaoh, that sadly I do not remember any more than what was already shared."

"Ah… okay!" Yugi pouted.

Ami clenched her hands. "Something wrong, Ami-san?" she looked up, much to her surprise it was Saffir, who was looking at her with concern in his eyes.

"Ah, I'm just worried about Usagi," she stuttered out, slightly unsettled by his interest in her.

"Meyari-sama, have you heard anything about our captured friends?" asked Yugi.

"The two Kingdoms, to the east and the west of this one, each year offer a sacrifice to the Mythic Dragon. The Kingdom to the East got a prince this year, and the Kingdom to the West offered up a foreign princess," spoke Meyari, the queen of this kingdom.

Mai gasped. "It must be Usagi and Kaiba!"

"Where are they?" demanded Demando.

"In the Dark Flying Castle," said Meyari, slightly uneasy.

"How can we get there?" asked Mokuba.

Meyari gaze shifted to a painting of a large bird-like creature on the wall. "The legend says that something escaped from the Dark Flying Castle a millennium ago and now hides in this land. But we don't know where," she trailed off, discouraged by the fact she couldn't offed them anymore help.

"Just use Duel Monsters," scoffed Makoto.

Meyari shook her head. "Duel Monsters cannot be used against the castle."

"I see," murmured Ami thoughtfully, her eyes glinted with determination, a fact that didn't go past Yugi.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked.

"We should go," said Ami looking between Mai, Makoto, Demando and Saffir.

"But, we can't take Yugi, Jounoochi and Mokuba like that," argued back Makoto, as Mokuba feverishly agreed with her.

Ami scowled, "And we would leave Kaiba and Usagi to be used as sacrifices," she noted grimly.

Jounoochi waved his hands. "What are you going on about?" he asked.

Mai sighed. "We'll be going there. As Sailor Senshi," she finally spoke.

"What about them?" asked Jounoochi pointing to Demando and Saffir, who rolled their eyes at his lack of faith in their abilities.

"They'll manage. They are of Nemesis after all," noted Makoto.

Mokuba jumped up, his eyes wide. "But, my big brother…" he began.

Yugi grinned at the boy. "Don't worry Mokuba. We'll find the thing that escaped and get back there. But let them go first, they'll be able at least to buy us some time," he said.

Mokuba looked between the present people in consideration, before finally relenting. "You're right."

Ami stood up, clasping close her minicomputer. "Let's go," she said.

* * *

It had been half a day since the Sylvan group left to search for the Dark Flying Castle. Meyari had roused the whole kingdom to search for clues about the ancient flying machine, and they were currently stuck in the castle, looking through the archives.

"That Diamond guy kept staring at me weirdly," drawled out Jounoochi stretching across the railing of a balcony they were occupying.

"Oh, you're just paranoid. Come on, we have to search for it," waved off Mokuba.

Yugi glanced down at the piles of books they found in the library, sighing dejectedly, the boy held up the first book. "But where do we start?" He called out to Jounoochi who was staring, mouth open wide at something in the valley below them.

"Hey, don't Nasca lines look like the painting," suddenly said the blond. Mokuba and Yugi darted to the edge of the balcony, and sure enough there were outlines of the bird-like thing Meyari had depicted in the hall.

"You don't think…" murmured Yugi.

"Let's go check it out!" exclaimed Mokuba racing out from the balcony. Jounoochi quickly followed him, and just as Yugi was about to join them, the spirit of the pharaoh came out from the puzzle.

'Do you think we're right to keep Jounoochi's past from him?' Yugi inquired, staring after Jounoochi's retreating form.

Yami sighed, 'But you see it, the shadows in their eyes, in my eyes. The weight of an impossible empire long gone on their shoulders.'

'You're right… but still,' weakly argued back Yugi.

'He'll remember if necessary,' said Yami and retreated back into the puzzle.

"I guess so," whispered the violet-eyed boy and quickly followed his friends.

"Yugi, hurry up!"

* * *

Usagi glanced nervously at Seto. He had all but given up struggling, a feat which she found quite disturbing. She distinctly felt the call of the Silver Moon Crystal in her veins, urging her to summon its powers, but was it a good idea to do so in the presence of Seto Kaiba. But even though Witty Phantom said their friends were coming for them, there was no sight of them yet and time was running short.

Once more the Witty Phantom appeared and this time he held a wickedly sharp dagger in his hands.

"You again!" hissed Seto angrily.

"It's time for the ritual to commence," goaded the Duel Monster. Usagi paled as the guy started advancing on Seto. Well… no choice then. She just hoped Seto would be able to keep a secret like Yugi and his friends could. Although, Mokuba knew about Minako and Ami being Senshi, so she guessed Seto probably knew now too. She closed her eyes and called upon the sleeping power within her soul.

"What are you…" she heard Seto whisper, and then the power answered to her. "Silver Moon Crystal Power! Make up!" yelled Usagi, and the power burned away her restraints as it encircled her and formed her beautiful uniform.

"What the hell?" shouted Witty Phantom, as she descended, her wings fluttering gently in the breeze.

"You didn't expect this to happen!" she teased, doing a wagging motion with her finger, similar to the way Yami's Dark Magician taunted his enemies. "Moon Twilight Flash!" She briefly touched her forehead, and a brilliant burst of controlled magic disintegrated the Witty Phantom. Grinning at her success Sailor Moon darted to Seto Kaiba, who had a _very _disbelieving look upon his face.

"Let's go, Seto-san! We have to get out of here!" she said untying him quickly.

"An interesting getup," Seto smirked as he rubbed his raw wrists. "Do you friends all wear such short skirts when they run around saving the world?"

"Seto-saaan!" whined Sailor Moon at the unnecessary taunt issued from the cold CEO.

* * *

The three Sailor Senshi and two Black Moon royals hovered in the air in a mile away from the Dark Flying Castle. They had been easily able to find it, and surprisingly there were even no enemies guarding the fortress, but it was protected. So far they had been trying to find a weakness and break thought with it, but with no effort.

"We don't seem to able to breach this force field," murmured Sailor Tori, as she carefully reached out towards the transparent field, that immediately started burning her clawed hand.

"Try to use as powerful attacks as possible," said Mercury, looking up, as she summoned her attack. Everyone launched their attacks, but as Mercury's calculations showed, not even a dent was made in the energy field.

"We're wasting time. What if they'll be sacrificed?" hissed Jupiter unsettled by their lack of success so far.

"What do you suggest then?" bit back Demando

"Guys! Need some help?" yelled a familiar voice.

"Is that?" murmured Saffir, as a large bird like flaying machine rose through the clouds, manned by Jounoochi, Mokuba and Yugi. And the next second hordes of monsters piled out from the fortress, as Jupiter cursed.

"Retreat!" shouted Mercury and the Sylvans fled to the ship, to take their stand against the army of enemies.

* * *

Michiru leaned against the door, watching Haruka easily bring down one intruder after another. They never had a chance against her speed and agility. Her eyes drifted to a shadow crawling nefariously close to her. One managed to slip past Haruka and was making his way in her direction.

The teal-haired lady chuckled mirthfully, "My, my, you seem certainly tenacious," she chided. The next second a gun was pointed straight in her face, as she blinked slightly surprised by his determination.

"Get out of my way, lady, and I won't hurt you," the guard growled.

Michiru smirked darkly. "Ah, it's the other way around," she said evenly, and the next second the gun went flying out of his hand. "Know!" Michiru fluidly planted her leg in his stomach, sending him toppling backwards. "Your!" Once again, raising her leg she slammed it out stealing his breath. "Place!" She huffed in an exasperated way. "Now you made me act not like a lady," she frowned straightening her dress into place.

* * *

"So many monsters!" breathed out Mokuba.

"Time to flex my muscles," hissed Demando, as he flash stepped into the aerial space, taking on several monsters at the same time. The other Sailor Senshi followed his lead, as Saffir stayed on the ship, guiding it through the barrier, while Yugi, Mokuba and Jounoochi each summoned their monsters to fight for them. Surges of lightning, ice, energy, fire, wind decimated battalion after battalion, until one blast went towards Yugi, who was standing unprotected in the center of the ship.

"No!" screamed Saffir, leaping towards Yugi, but he wouldn't make it in time. A bright flash of light flooded the deck of the airship, as the small faerie of Meyari shielded Yugi with his magic.

"Eiru!" yelled Yugi, as the faerie smiled encouragingly at him and with a final burst of magic disappeared along with the attack. Yugi fell to his knees in shock. "Swords of Revealing Light!" he whispered furiously and around the ship a wall of white glowing swords, keeping the monsters at bay.

"I'm sorry," murmured Yugi, "It's all because of me."

And everyone shivered as the pulse of dark magic from the castle brought forwards the much taller red-eyed pharaoh from the distant past.

"How cruel…" he spoke grimly looking at the monsters around them, his eyes blazing in fury.

"The pharaoh came out to play," noted Saffir, just as the ship creaked as if in pain, as they hit the barrier.

"It's going through!" yelled the younger Nemesis prince, "Hold on tight!" The Senshi and Demando landed back onto the ship, along with their monsters, as everyone grabbed ahold of something, to stay onboard, as with great difficulty the airship forced it's way through the barrier.

Finally with a final push they made it through, and were approaching the looming fortress, when a giant serpent of fire emerged from it, shooting a blast of fire at them. "Shit, we've been hit!" cried out Mercury, as she summoned a Mirage Wave to wipe out the dragon.

The ship rattled, as Yami summoned a dragon to carry him, Mokuba and Jounoochi away from the damaged ship that was about to fall into the depths of the clouds beneath them, while the others soared into the sky.

Finally with a few more monsters to beat they landed in the courtyard of the dark castle.

"Where to now?" asked Demando.

Mercury looked up, numbers and diagrams flashing across her visor, "Follow me. I'll lead us through a path without enemies. Seto and Usagi are also moving. I presume they've escaped," her words brightened up the situation, as Mokuba and Yami immediately followed her.

They made their way through an overgrown garden, finally arriving in some dark dungeon. There were no exits and everyone looked around confused as to what to do next, when a portal opened just below the ceiling.

"What's that?" breathed out Mokuba.

"Incoming! Serenity and Seto!" announced Mercury and at the same second through the portal fell Seto and Sailor Moon, falling into a heap of tangled limbs and bodies.

"Geez. You're heavy, Seto-san!" whined Sailor Moon, as she lay in an uncomfortable position beneath the much larger brunet.

"Your wings are poking my eye out!" bit back Seto, trying to untangle himself from Sailor Moon's ribbons.

Mokuba leapt towards them. "Big brother!" he exclaimed tackling Seto, who had just gotten up with great difficulty.

"Mokuba!" cried out Seto, and fell back onto the ground, nearly flattening Sailor Moon who crawled quickly away.

"Your deck, I saved it for you," said Mokuba, handing the Duel Disc that he had been carrying around back to Seto.

"Thank you."

The blonde Sailor Senshi stood up and looked at them, her eyes widening in happiness, the second she saw the red-eyed pharaoh. "Yami-kun! You came to save me," she exclaimed running at him, embracing him in joy.

"And what are we? Looser sidekicks?" deadpanned Demando.

The moon warrior pulled away, her eyes wide in disbelief. "Prince Diamond! But, but you died in my arms," she breathed out.

Demando flushed in embarrassment, as Yami turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised, a challenging look set on the ancient ruler's face, "Em, that was the first time. After we've met in the Silver Empire," he quickly explained.

Sailor Moon giggled sheepishly. "Oh, right…"

"You're okay! We were worried about you," shouted Jounoochi to Seto.

Seto scoffed. "I don't need a wimp to worry about me," he stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

Jounoochi fumed. "This coming from a guy saved by a girl in a mini-skirt," he snapped back.

"Can we stay to the matter we have at our hands?" said Mai, a vein twitching on her forehead, "We still have to get out to the reality."

'_Welcome, duelists,'_ came a disembodied voice, addressing them. Seto and Sailor Moon tensed, it was again Kogoro Daimon. They certainly recognized him.

"Hah, you failed; you planned on using us as sacrifice. But as you see…" Seto exclaimed.

_'What? You got out?'_ the voice cried out in anger_. 'Doesn't matter. We'll end this game here,'_ he growled and then the castle faded away, leaving them on what it seemed like a motherboard inside a computer.

"What the hell?" cursed Jupiter suddenly as she fell to her knees. She felt so heavy and tired and powerless.

"I can't move," hissed Demando, trying to stand up and failing to do so. Just then a mighty roar came and everyone came to see a terrifying sight. From the darkness a large form of a five-headed dragon formed, each head representing a different element.

"So this is the legendary Mythic Dragon," breathed out Seto marveling at the fearsome creature.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Yami, kneeling next to Sailor Moon, who still struggled to stand up. He looked around noting that the same thing was happening to Demando, Saffir and Jupiter.

"We can't move… I feel horribly weak," admitted the blonde with some difficulty. Even speaking hurt.

"We decided we wouldn't let your tricks interfere with our rules. Here, unless you are a duelist, you can't use your powers. The Dragon Field forbids anything but dragons battling here," spoke Kogoro through one of the dragon's heads.

"How did it resurrect?" asked Mokuba angrily gazing at them. They saved Seto and Usagi, so how did it come back?

A dark chuckle came from the Big Five, "What an exciting game, surprise at every corner," they cooed.

A dragon head slithered closer to Sailor Moon, who was in their vicinity, "We must say, Usagi, it is unbecoming of the CEO of Industrial Illusions to run around in a mini skirt," the spoke, their voices overlaying each other. Yami grabbed the Moon Senshi, dragging her backwards from the advancing dragons.

"Shit, we can't do anything, and we don't have cards," hissed Sailor Moon, feeling useless.

Yami tapped her nose. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." He looked up at the dragon, his gaze determined. "We accept your challenge," he announced. And on cue Jounoochi, Mai, Seto and Yami summoned their dragons, ordering them to attack simultaneously, but much to their horror their attacks were deflected by a blast from all five heads.

"The attacks failed!" cried out Mai.

"The heads are independent," said Mercury, still kneeling on the ground.

The Big Five chuckled, "But the attack is still there. First, let us punish you. Hm, I think we'll start with Mokuba."

"Don't you dare!" growled Seto, but the attack was already launched. In slow motion he watched horrified as the blast approached Mokuba. But it never hit him, as a thin form in blue took the blast.

Sailor Mercury fell down breathing heavily in pain, as she smiled encouragingly at the frozen boy, who watched in shock, her body starting to fade away, as tears gathered in his eyes.

"Why would you sacrifice your life for a stranger?" he whispered, falling to his knees.

Ami smiled, "That's the way of a Sailor Senshi," she murmured and closed her eyes, fading away. Sailor Moon looked back at the dragon, her mascara streaming down her face. But it was Saffir who broke first.

"Ami-san!" he shouted, "You bastards! How could you!" he growled turning to the Mythic Dragon occupied by the will of the Big Five.

"My, you're certainly cheeky," spoke one of them, "But I guess none of you Ace brothers carry around dragons, which is why you're useless. Don't worry, I'll let you join her." The blast was fired, and everyone watched in horror as it engulfed the younger Nemesis prince, immediately evaporating him.

"Saffir!" shouted Sailor Moon in despair. She crawled over to the spot where he was, her eyes wide in fear and anguish, "No! Not again!" she cried out, "Why are you doing this! I hate you!" she shouted at the Big Five. And before anyone could stop her or them…

"Big words! Disappear!" announced the five men.

"Usagi!" screamed Yami, but she didn't move even as it approached her, blankly staring ahead. He closed his eyes in fear, as the shockwave echoed through their bodies. But it was not the moon warrior who was taken down. In shock she watched a very familiar scene, Demando falling back towards her, his front burned. He fell back towards her and the blonde caught him.

"Ah, seems familiar, doesn't it," he murmured before fading away. She let out an anguished scream, just as Yami caught her flailing form, trying to pull her back behind the ones, who had dragons summoned.

"They're taking us down, one by one. And we can't do anything," hissed Mai.

"Don't give up," whispered Yami, trying to make Usagi come to senses. He desperately tried to hold her down, as the moon warrior was nearing a hysterical state, the crescent on her forehead flashing frantically with its mistress's distress. The shadows within him surged to power, as they reacted to their beloved light's panic. So concerned about her, he never noticed another attack sent towards them.

"Yami, Usagi! Look out!" yelled a voice. And as the two rulers raised their heads, eyes wide in fear at the impending blast, a large black form took the brunt of the attack, fading away. The Red Eyes Black Dragon protected them from a certain death.

"Jounoochi!" breathed out Yami, as he turned to his friend, who simply grinned at him and faded away. Sailor Moon started sobbing. Ami. Jounoochi. Demando. Saffir. They were gone. Dead. How cruel…

"That is despicable! Attacking a player is foul!" shouted angrily Mai, taking a step forwards.

"Despicable?" inquired the Big Five, "We make the rules," they said.

"Bastards!" hissed Sailor Moon struggling up, her power going out of control, as it fought against the seal on this area, her hair flashing between silver and golden. Yami helped her up, his eyes glossing over, the Sennen Eye flashing to life on his forehead.

"When the strongest dragon teams up, the evil god will die," he spoke ominously. And from his deck called upon the Soldier of Darkness, the Black Luster of Soldier. Yet the Big Five were not phased by this, breaking in a mad laughter they haughtily pointed out:

"Have you forgotten? He can't fight on the sacred land of the dragons!" The heads of the dragons opened their mouths blasting another stream of energy towards Yami's monster. "We'll crush him!"

"I won't let you do that. Your opponent is me," shouted Mai moving her Harpie's Pet Dragon to intercept the blast. Her lifeline dropped to zero, as she dropped to her knees the second her faithful monster disappeared.

"Mai!" screamed Sailor Moon and Yami.

She looked weakly up at the pharaoh, "Yami, even though I don't know what you are doing, I will entrust the will of a Senshi to you. Protect my queen, when I failed."

"Mai-san!" whispered Sailor Moon, as the blonde woman smiled at them before dissolving in a flurry of sparkles. She stood there broken, staring at the spot where Mai had been before.

"Kaiba! Summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, now!" growled Yami.

"Was that an order?" Seto scoffed. "I will not follow your commands."

"This is not the time. Just do it," growled the pharaoh.

"Please stop. Now is not the time to fight," whispered Mokuba, but his plea went unheard by his elder brother.

Seto crossed his arms. "I don't need you guys to defeat this game!"

"Kaiba, summon the Ultimate Dragon!" shouted Yami, advancing upon the taller man.

"Shut up!" screamed Kaiba.

In their banter they never noticed the Big Five using their argument as a distraction to attack. The attack never hit, as their beloved people took it all.

"Mokuba!"

"Usagi!"

She fell into his arms, her crescent dimming as she smiled through tears. "Hold on! Don't disappear," whispered Yami clutching her tightly to his form, as she grinned easily at him, despite the obvious pain she was experiencing.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I didn't call you today like I promised, but at least we saw each other," she murmured, brushing his bangs away from his arms.

"Idiot. I don't care. Don't disappear," he whispered, just as she started fading away. Usagi shook her head in apology.

She smiled softly. "I'm sorry. Win this game, Yami-kun," she whispered and disappeared in a flurry of sparkles. He felt the shadows lovingly embrace him, pulling him into the comforting sadness, where he felt nothing.

"Usagi-chan! No! No!" His hands embraced only air, as the last traces of the moon princess disappeared, along with Mokuba as Seto and Yami fell to their knees, watching in disbelief their hands, where only seconds ago their most precious people spoke their last words.

"Scream in despair!" howled in laughter the Big Five. "We'll send you to your beloved ones now."

Jupiter struggled up. "Stand up, god damn it! Stand up and fight for them. They died for you, and you are despairing. Believe in yourself," she shouted, trying to break the two duelists out of their trance.

"Shut up!" ordered Chikuzen, and a blast of fire engulfed Sailor Jupiter as she too disappeared. They were left alone, Seto and Yami. Everyone else was gone. And Yami broke the comfort the shadows provided him, his fury encompassing his soul, as the darkness within his heart snarled in excitement.

"I will kill you!" screamed Yami in anger.

"Unforgivable. I won't forgive you!" whispered Seto, as he stood up, determination growing in his eyes, "Come out, Ultimate Dragon!" He summoned his remaining White Dragons fusing them together, forming the unmatchable beast, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"It is still no match for the Mythic Dragon," drawled the Big Five.

Yami smirked darkly, the shadows wildly dancing around him, urging him to feast upon their souls for even daring to harm Usagi, "Oh yeah?" he murmured. "I'll show you now, the united power of our anger! Fusion!" And another fusion took place, as the Black Luster Soldier and the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon merged together in a swirl of dark energy. The Big Five attacked, but it was useless, as the attack was absorbed by the whirlpool of the black magic, as a new kind of monster emerged from there. "Dragon Master Knight! It gains attack strength of every dragon on the field and in the graveyard!" The Dragon Master Knight glowed in fury, as it absorbed the spirits of the fallen, raising it attack to 9000, well above the power of the Mythic Dragon. "Galaxy Crusher!" cried out Seto and Yami, and the shockwave covered everything. They knew no more.

* * *

They had spent the last few hours chatting about random stuff. Hotaru was mostly interested in the regular life around Domino High School, asking about any bullies, teachers gone bad, issues that should be addressed in the school, while Ryou was quite interested about London having never been there before. Time flew by quickly and it was already late, when Hotaru realized none of the Senshi had tried to contact her, even though she called them several times.

Once more she dialed the Senshi via the communicator but there was no answer. "This is strange. None of them are replying," she muttered. The feeling of dread came back full force.

"Maybe they're busy," offered Bakura weakly, not quite believing his own words.

"All of them?" Hotaru smiled at him appreciating his attempt to lessen her anxiety, but it was not the time to wait. What if they were all in danger? "No… I 'm sure something is going on. We'll part here," she said standing up.

Ryou looked slightly put off by her sudden departure, but nonetheless flashed a grin at her. "Very well. Good bye then, it's been nice seeing you," he said. Hotaru leaned down, quickly hugging him.

"Same here," she replied and took of running. She never saw the Sennen Ring glow ominously as the Spirit of the Ring who had been observing their conversation all this time replaced Ryou Bakura.

"Good bye, Sailor Saturn," he murmured darkly. His attention turned back to the knocked out Ryou Bakura in his soulroom. "Well, what do you know, my host, you are useful after all." The spirit's memories darted back to _that _time. "Just like back then."

* * *

"Where are we?" whispered Yami, once his eyes opened and he saw the bright blue sky. Did they win?

"It's amazing. You defeated the evil god. Thank you for saving us all." The voice was familiar. It was Meyari. So they defeated the evil god, but… but Usagi was gone, almost giving in to despair once more, Yami struggled up.

"What does it matter now?" whispered a cold voice. Seto stood beside him, his features hard and unforgiving. But inside he was breaking as well.

Meyari smiled softly, as she started to glow and changed form. "As a reward for this… I shall bring back those who died valiantly." The light died down and in stead of the Mokuba-like girl stood the Mystical Elf, she raised her hands and on the ground appeared the forms of their friends.

"Everyone!" exclaimed Yami, running towards the still form of Sailor Moon, gathering her into his arms.

"What happened?" asked Demando, sitting up.

A soft hand touched Yami's forehead. "Did we win?" He glanced down, those vivid blue eyes were open and warmly gazing at him, in faith, trust… and … love.

"Usagi-chan!" he breathed out, embracing her softly, careful not to rattle her already battered form. The crowds cheered for them, hailing them as heroes, as a black portal opened behind them.

"That looks like the exit. We should go," said Seto.

Jounoochi bristled. "Hold on, Kaiba! Saying hanks won't kill you, you know!"

A smirk made its way to Seto's face. "You couldn't have won without me," he boasted.

"What did you say?" growled the blond loudmouth, but Seto ignored him, as he turned around watching him in suspicion.

"Yugi, I want to ask something," Kaiba began, "Did you know about the Dragon Master Knight from the start?"

Yami smirked. "I believed that we could win. If you believe you will be rewarded. If you believe in your power and the power of the monsters."

Seto scoffed turning around to leave. "Let's go, Mokuba," he curtly said.

Sailor Moon grinned. "Ah, finally, we can get back to business."

Seto cast her a glare. "Unless you will change your clothes, you can forget about it."

"So mean, Seto-san," Usagi whined, as she with the help of Yami followed everyone into the black portal.

* * *

The hinges of one pod opened, and from there groggily rubbing her eyes Ami emerged, slightly wavering. Michiru came in, startled at the sudden movement in the room that had been quiet before. "Ami's capsule opened," she shouted back to Haruka, who was disposing the last intruder.

In the room, that seemed to have been separate before, a door slid open. "Hey, another door." Michiru blinked as from there wobbled out the blonde Shadow Senshi, who was known to be Hotaru's sister and Sailor Tori, followed by a young man with dark blue hair.

Ami gasped: "Saffir-san, you were here all along." Michiru's eyes darted back to the young man. Saffir. Sapphire? Could this man be the reincarnation of the Black Moon prince? Ami certainly seemed on friendly terms with him… but…

He glanced around, his gaze unfocused, as he still struggled to intake the reality. "I guess," he murmured.

Michiru glanced back towards the other pods, but there was no change in the other game participants, as they still looked as if they were peacefully slumbering. "Wait, why aren't the others waking up?" she asked.

Mai narrowed her eyes, "Do you think the game is still going on?" she asked.

"It can't be! We defeated it!" exclaimed Saffir, running to the control table, followed closely by Ami, who summoned her Mercury visor back onto her face.

"I'm going to try to hack in and see what's going on," she said, and immediately went to work on the newest task, her eyes darting across the streaming data she pulled up. Michiru gripped her hands into fists. What was going on?

* * *

**End Chapter 9**

* * *

**Next chapter:**

_"Is that Endymion I'm seeing?" suddenly said Demando, his eyes narrowed at two forms engaged it what it seemed a friendly fight across the valley they were crossing at the moment._

_"Endymion?" whispered Usagi, her face becoming pale, as she stared in horror over in that direction. Demando frowned. It was a rather strange reaction… why would she be so scared of seeing Endymion. They were good friends in their past lives._

_"It can't be," whispered Usagi, and darted over there, Demando obediently followed the blonde Sailor Senshi, who came to a halt a few feet away from the pair, who were rolling around in the field of flower laughing._

_"Minako!" exclaimed Usagi._

_The pair paused as they looked at the CEO of Industrial Illusions all color fleeting from their faces._

_"We can explain," they breathed out, as Demando only looked confused between the frightened looking Senshi of Love and Endymion on one side, and Usagi who looked flabbergasted and relieved at the same time._

* * *

**_13/June/2011 – _**_Bam! Next chapter Minako and Mamoru show up in the virtual world. How did they get there? Why are they there anyhow? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Acheron: Infinitas, as our heroes get scattered across Noah's world._

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the duels/duels/duels.**

**So, motivate the author. 10 reviews per chapter is the minimum I demand. Nothing excuses you from not reviewing my stories if you like them. –laughs maniacally and disappears into darkness-**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	11. 10: Old Friends and Old Enemies

**03/January/2013 – **Let's call this the New Year miracle. I apologize for such a long delay, I cannot promise miracles, but I can promise to try to update stories one by one, or as inspiration hits.

* * *

**Thanks to all those who reviewed, favourited, put story on alert: Guests, bur bur, The Queen of Wate, jazminelee, Guardian of Winter, SailorVMoon1311815, HoshinoKaabi13, cosmicsorrow, Dustginer's cheering section, Taeniaea, RoseMouto2010, Sesshy's Mistress (**please don't hate me, mimiimimi I know I haven't updated in ages, and it's still not the stories you want, but it's better than nothing…)**, Aurora, Spirit of the Dead, Sweet Mink, Cosmic-lover, wildflower1014, Krissy **(Demando, Saffir and Mai were just hired by Kaiba Corp to test out the virtual reality**), El3v3n (**you! You changed your name, I almost didn't recognize you), **Angel of Courage, CosmosAngel, GracefulReader, Lupin and Tonks Forever, Rowan Cousland, LadyAmazon, Evangeline11**

* * *

_**Names (first name is highlighted):**_  
_**Ryuji**__ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_  
_Jounoochi__** Katsuya **__(Joey Wheeler)_  
_**Shizuka**__ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_  
_**Anzu**__ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_  
_**Honda **__Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_  
_**Pegasus **__J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_  
_**Cyndia **__Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_  
_**Sugoroku **__Mutou (Solomon Muto)_  
_**Mai **__Kujaki (Mai Valentine)_  
_Sarutawari (Kemo)_  
_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_  
_Chikuzen Oka(Johnson – Judge Man)_  
_Kogoro Daimon (Lector – Jinzo)_  
_Shuzo Otaki (Adrian Randolph Crump III – Nightmare Penguin)_  
_Konosuke Oshita (Gansley – Deepsea Warrior)_  
_Soichiro Ota (Nesbitt – Robotic Knight)_

* * *

**Short summary of what had happened to this point:**

Usagi Serenity Crawford, the only daughter of Pegasus J. Crawford had entered the Duelist Kingdom with her childhood friend Hotaru Kujaku, Mai Kujaku's younger sister. Usagi and Hotaru immediately notice the difference between Yugi and Yami, which is why Usagi becomes quite intrigued by the boy, also pulled to him by more than just curiosity. During their adventures in the Duelist Kingdom a sinister plot is revealed to Hotaru, who is the only awakened Senshi. Upon their encounter with the dark spirit who inhabited the Sennen Ring, Hotaru came to the conclusion that the spirit of the Sennen Puzzle was not an enemy, and left Usagi with the Yugi-tachi, while she would investigate the darkness in the Duelist Kingdom. Luna and Artemis awaken the Inner Sailor Senshi, minus Rei, whose whereabouts are unknown and arrive in the Duelist Kingdom, just as the Yugi-tachi are about to enter the castle they also awaken Sailor Moon. While trying to save Mokuba, Mercury and Venus get their souls sealed within cards by Pegasus, Sailor Saturn manages to escape and warns Usagi of the danger her father poses. Inside the castle it also revealed that Mai Kujaku is Sailor Tori, a Shadow Senshi, part of a contract between the White Moon Kingdom and Ancient Egyptian Kingdom of which Yami was the ruler. Everything that the Sailor Senshi knew to this point is turned upside down, as by the power of the planets, Luna falls into a trance and tells them yet an unknown part of the Silver Millennium's history.

After the preliminary rounds Mai reveals that there was a Sailor Moon in the Silver Millennium, that Sailor Saturn was also Sailor Moon's twin, born of the union of Queen Selenity and King of Saturn, who died when the princesses were young in the battle against Queen Nehelenia, and after the battle with Metallia, when Queen Selenity died the throne was usurped, yet after a rebellion staged with the help of the Black Moon, Sailor Moon was finally crowned.

But a more sinister darkness came and awoke Mistress 9 and something much more horrible. But due to the ritual used by the pharaoh, Mai doesn't not remember what exactly happened. Usagi believes that she was betrothed to Endymion, as do the other Senshi. Most Senshi, except Hotaru have no clue about her relationship with Yami.

The Sailor Senshi conclude that the lives when they fought Nehelenia's circus, Death busters, Death phantom, Pharaoh 90, Chaos all happened before Silver Millennium, as instead of being reborn in the present, where they were supposed to be originally, they were flung into a very distant past, and became a legend in the Silver Millennium, the Eternal Senshi who defeated Chaos.

At the end of the Duelist Kingdom the dark spirit of the Sennen Ring steal the Sennen Eye, making Pegasus fall into a coma. Usagi takes over Industrial Illusions and tried fixing ties with Kaiba Corporation.

That is when an awakened general challenges Jounoochi, because he feels that the unawakened one is fooling around. That general is Otogi Ryuji. He also considers Yami an enemy, and only after a loss in his Dungeon Monsters game, when Yami reveals that the general's queen, Usagi, is all fine and dandy, Otogi grudgingly accepts the spirit. He still doesn't really accept his relationship with his queen, but doesn't say anything as it is not his place.

That is when Kaiba and Usagi are kidnapped by the Big Five and trapped in the virtual reality. The Yugi-tachi and Sailor Senshi follow them to save them, but get separated. After a few misadventures, they meet Demando, Mai and Saffir who were all testing the new virtual reality, as hired by Kaiba Corp. Demando and Saffir are currently US duelist champions. They also have fractured memories, just like Mai.

Until meeting the Senshi, Mai and the Black Moon brothers were not aware of the fact that they were partially awoken. After that with combined efforts they defeat the dragon of the Big Five… but the game doesn't end as they expect.

_Rei - location unknown, Artemis and Luna - Moon Kingdom archives, Seto, Mokuba, __Usagi_, Yami/Yugi, Makoto, Jounoochi, Otogi, Honda, Anzu, Demando - virtual reality, Ami, Saffir, Mai, Haruka, Michiru - virtual reality booth where they entered the virtual reality world, physical bodies of Seto and Usagi - location unknown, physical bodies of Yami/Yugi, Mokuba, Makoto, Jounoochi, Otogi, Honda, Anzu, Demando - in the same virtual reality booth as Ami and others, Hotaru - outside, Sailor Pluto - unknown, Ryou Bakura - unknown, Pegasus - coma, at his home

* * *

**A.c.h.e.r.o.n: I.n.f.i.n.i.t.a.s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 10**

* * *

The moment they stepped through the portal, it was not the familiar freedom of the reality that greeted them, but the suffocating presence of the virtual world. There was no ground and they were spiraling through the darkness.

"Yami!" she screamed out, as she felt the comforting presence of the dark spirit disappear into the vast nothingness, but there was no reply as she fell. One by one the presence of her friends flickered away and she was alone.

The fall went on and on, she didn't know the speed with which she was falling, she couldn't sense the time passing by. There was just nothing.

Finally, after what it seemed years, there was a glimmer of light and a meadow full of flowers shimmered into life around her. A meadow that was eerily familiar. Endless horizon to wherever she looked and millions and millions of pastel flowers.

"Ami-chan! Mako-chan! Otogi-kun!" Usagi yelled helplessly into the vast emptiness. She didn't like this place… it reminded her too much of that time… when Nehelenia took Mamoru-san away. And again guilt took her over. Her destined lover… was she doing the right thing… and what about Chibi-Usa. Her eyes found their way to the ground. Last time she was in such a field of flowers, the beautiful blossoms talked to her, guiding her into a land of dreams. A land where she had not one single care. Blissful, eternal, happy, not torn between her heart and destiny, not weighted by responsibility and past. Her mind flew into despair as the sense of déjà vu took over her, darkness rising around her, reaching out to strangle and drag her down into the depths of non-reality, ready to take her mind apart into binary code.

"Serenity-hime!" Usagi blinked. It was Demando's voice. The darkness in front of her eyes cleared and she was back in the meadow, the Prince of Nemesis standing in front of her, looking quite worried.

* * *

The clock was ticking, but there were yet no visible results, as Ami and Saffir continued their joint efforts to hack into the virtual game's platform. Whoever was at it was pretty damn good, as if he was the virtual game itself. Haruka and Michiru still kept guard, as Mai was walking around the room anxiously.

"Well, how much longer?" demanded Haruka, kicking herself off the wall she was leaning against. Ami looked up sharply, quite annoyed: it was the tenth time the question was repeated in the last fifteen minutes and the ever so present distractions were not welcome. They were close to breakthrough but with the Haruka interrupting her every now and then the entity in the program that kept thwarting her attempts to enter the system kept escaping her attacks.

"Shut up!"

Haruka blinked dumbfounded by the sudden growl that came from the peaceful Senshi of Mercury.

There was a beep suddenly and the console log of the computer screen started outputting a stream of data.

"Ami-san, I think I have a target lock on our culprit, if my estimation are correct then with combined efforts we should be able to eject him for a bit." Ami smirked, no matter how good, 'it' would not be able to avoid them forever. Even if it were the most sophisticated AI in the world, it would not be able to outlast their combined wit and sheer power of her Mercury computer.

* * *

The first thing that greeted her was the sound of seagulls. It was comforting and she could feel the sea breeze on her face as the sun warmed her body. Ah, this was the life; she could stay like this forever. Yet there was something missing, something that called out to the powers within her, whispering that not all was right. Her vivid green eyes snapped open, and focused on the clear blue sky above her.

She couldn't pinpoint the location of Jupiter, usually not matter the time she could easily pinpoint the approximate location of her home planet, yet now it was all murky, and everywhere.

And besides… wasn't she…

"Am I still in the virtual reality then?" her hand automatically moved up to reach for her power, but the familiar smell of ozone didn't enter her nose even as electricity coursed throughout her body. Immediately Makoto was up on her legs looking around. They defeated the game… or was there more to it?

It was an empty dock in front of a lake, with some swans swimming in it. And as one took flight cold water droplets ended up on her face. In the distance dark clouds gathered and Makoto realized that she was completely alone. She had to get out of here and find her comrades.

* * *

His blue eyed glinted as multiple screens highlighted his ever-youthful features as he watched the prey he trapped in the game. Noah Kaiba, or more specifically what was left of him was seated on a lone chair surrounded by many screens, which showed him the locations of his prey.

The blonde idiot friend of Yugi was wandering around the virtual mansion, soon to walk into his trap. Yugi was slowly but surely making his way towards another battlefield in the forest, and his brunette female friend was in the icy tundra sector, which was just next door.

Absentmindedly he thwarted another attempt by outside sources to interfere with his virtual reality. That would not do, here he was the ultimate god, here he made the rules, after all, this was his mind, this was his world, they would not be able to hack into this, the ultimate AI.

Seto and Mokuba were in the mists of time, a place he specifically designed for them, or to be precise, for Seto Kaiba. Two brunet loudmouths, Honda and Ryuji, were just inside of the castle by the docs. Perhaps it would be best to arrange for them to meet that girl, Makoto… Salor Jupiter and then lead them all into a trap. After all, they wouldn't be able to play the game, according to his calculations the three had zero duelling skills, so conning them into a game with the soon to be upgraded Big Five would be an easy task.

Usagi and Demando were wandering in the flower valley and he had just the person to send there.

"Heisei… I believe you wanted to play," he spoke, seemingly addressing no one. Yet out of the darkness a light giggle sounded.

"Indeed," a feminine voice replied and a subtle flicker of shadows signalled her exit just as it usually did. The silver haired almost alien looking schoolgirl. She was the one who awoke him and fed his AI that power source, Sapphire Crystal, she was the one who helped him find Seto-kun, she was the who helped him find Yugi-kun, all for one reason, to let her play with the Sailor Senshi.

Suspicious. A bit. But as long as he got his revenge, he guessed it would be fine. After all, Heisei was also after revenge, to get back at that blonde girl for stealing what rightfully belonged. So similar to himself.

Another screen flickered to life, alerting him that his _upgrades _to the Big Five were complete. Of course there were some minor side effects, such as the permanent separation from their original bodies, but nothing they couldn't fix, after all, if they would defeat the prey trapped in the virtual reality they would easily come back to life.

Well, it was time to inform the players of his little game of the new rules.

* * *

It seemed as if hours if not days dragged past as he and Mokuba wandered in the mists. There was no beginning and no end. He was fooled. The game did not end. That was the only conclusion he could come across. If only… if only he would have suspected deceit earlier on, then he could have requested for that blue-haired Senshi's help, she seemed to have an inane way of hacking into wireframes even from within his own game.

Seto snorted, earning a questioning glance from his little brother. Who was he kidding? Of course he wouldn't. His damn pride would stand in the way. But how long would they wander these mists? How long till despair would take over?

Suddenly there was a change, as a dot of light appeared in the air, spreading like a sheet of paper and becoming a transparent screen, showing a teal-haired youth, with blue eyed whose features looked quite familiar, that haughty look and cheekbones.

"Welcome to the second part of the game," spoke the youth, "I am Noah and I shall introduce you to the second part of the game." And at this several other screen appeared around him and Mokuba: Yugi in a forest, Makoto by the docks, Anzu in an icy tundra, Usagi and Demando in a field of flowers, Otogi and Honda on a castle balcony, Jounoochi in some mansion.

Yet even as this Noah spoke of playing a game with them all, Seto just couldn't shake off the feeling that Noah was only after him.

* * *

"Second part?" demanded Yami, looking at the other screens, wondering if there was an easy way to find and collect his friends from wherever they were scattered, but his puzzle was not meant for tracking and he was not quite sure if he felt yet at ease with his shadow powers, without it going mental.

"Of course," replied the youth, who had identified himself as Noah, "the previous part was just a warm-up, the Big Five were quite a let-down, but don't worry, I gave them a bit of an upgrade, of course…it had some side-effects, so without further interruptions, I shall introduce you to the rulings of my little game," spoke Noah, calmly ignoring the protests of every one.

'_Yami, what do you think?' asked Yugi, eyes fixated on their enemy._

'_I do not know, I don't think he's quite after us…' replied the dark spirit._

"First… if you loose a game… you will not be able to come back, even if by a fluke chance others manage to defeat my game, instead… the first five to fall will end up as new bodies for the Big Five… as I accidentally managed to make them loose their bodies while upgrading them, in effort to make them more of worthy opponents," a roar of outrage came from everyone.

"Second… there is a new game system at play here…"

* * *

"We're in…" said Ami finally, as they brought up on the huge LCD screen a grid map with the location of everyone in the game, cameras showing them and an intercepted transmission that was coming from Noah.

"We won't be in for long though, he's distracted at the moment, which is why he doesn't notice us, after that it will be a game of cat and mouse, until he is distracted again," murmured Saffir, his fingers moving across the keyboard, typing in commands to mask their presence. It was really amazing. The presence that they encountered within the mainframe was unlike anything he ever saw. It was almost like a human brain, yet in binary code, which only made it more difficult.

"So he wants to play a game with all of them with their physical bodies at stake, is there anything we can do about it?" asked Mai, "because we do have at least two vulnerable warriors in the game, if not three, depending on Anzu's duelling abilities. I'm pretty sure Makoto knows nothing about the game."

"It would not be well to have Senshi or Generals fall into the enemy's hands," replied Haruka. Ami glared at Haruka suddenly and grit through her teeth, "It would not be well to loose any of our friends, you mean to say," she hissed.

"Could we perhaps upload the knowledge and the rulings of the game directly to their mind?" suddenly spoke Saffir, and the idea began to spin within Ami's mind, it had a lot of shortcomings, after all unless it was learned properly it would never really stick, "I know it would not be permanent, but short term wise it would allow them to play the game, at least subconsciously," added Saffir.

"It would really depend on the mental capabilities as well," Michiru mentioned and glancing at Haruka added, "for example it would not help Haruka-chan at all," and at the infuriated shout ("Hey! That's not fair, Michi-koi!") from the sandy-haired woman, Michiru giggled.

Well, the plan had its shortcomings, and looking at Honda-kun, Ami did have her doubts, but this was better than nothing.

"Alright, we shall proceed with this but first we must build a distraction for Noah, otherwise he might just cut off our transmission in the midst of it all."

* * *

It was just as Noah finished explaining all off the rules, taunted Kaiba for some time that something went wrong. All around his carefully controlled world vortexes into other places were opening. It was as if someone was punching holes into his world, making the reality unstable, and thus endangering his carefully engineered plan.

The youth growled under his breath, as he began tracking down the disturbance and following it, jumping from one sector to another, sewing up the rips as he went.

* * *

Anzu was still reeling from the shock, the Big Five were upgraded by some sort of AI, that had made their intelligence and duelling skills up to par with the best of the duellists, and any loss would result in loss off their real bodies. How was she supposed to deal with that? At best she could only be … ah, who was she kidding, she had no level in duelling, she only jokingly duelled against Honda, and if she could beat him, it was not really an achievement. And she had a sinking suspicion that the Big Five would go after the weak links first. Seto apparently was off limits as he was Noah's prey, Yugi would no doubt be targeted by one of the Big Five, but he was only one person.

She never even had her own deck. And what about that Deck Master rule, oh, this was far too difficult. The brunette fell to her knees, her fists digging into the cold snow but the cold environment that bothered her before, was now much less of an annoyance, after all… she could deal with cold… but loosing her body.

_Everyone, please listen carefully, whatever you are up against, it quite sophisticated and dangerous… even to us, Sailor Senshi._

The calm and collected voice broke her out of her thoughts and she looked up.

"Huh, is that you, Ami-san?" she asked, feeling a bit silly, maybe she was just hallucinating now in her despair. If it was Ami-san, then she could do something. After all, Ami-san was one of the Sailor Senshi, they were marvellous, they could do something… right?

_Yes, Anzu-san, I am here to help. Saffir-san, Mai-san and I were ejected after the first part of the game, while you and Honda were held in a stasis of some sort._

"Is there any way for you to get us out of here?" begged Anzu.

_I'm sorry. _There was regret in Ami's voice. _We don't have much time, to explain everything, as even now Noah is destroying out distractions, and if we want to stay online we'll have to hide soon, _she said. Anzu's hopes crumbled. _But… I am familiar with your situation and there is ways I can help you survive this game, while we try to release you from it… listen carefully._

And as Ami began laying out her plan, a glimmer of hope flickered back to life in the girl's heart.

* * *

Just as the last packets reached their destination, a secondary console log flew up, alerting them that there were only ten bots ripping into Noah's reality left. They had filled in everybody on their own and everyone else's locations, uploaded a map to everyone's Duel Disk, and loaded Anzu's, Makoto's and Honda's mind with Duel Monster's rulings.

"Is it done?" asked Mai.

Ami nodded, just as she brought up the masking cloak, shielding her and Saffir's location from Noah. From now on, any communication had to be done carefully.

She observed the grid map with satisfaction, slowly but surely all the ten dots were moving towards each other and the centre.

Ten? Huh? Jounoochi-san, Ryuji-san, Honda-san, Anzu-san, Usagi-chan, Demando-san, Yugi-san, Mako-chan, she counted in her head, eight…

She brought up the camera on the sector, and gasped, as everyone's attention was brought to the screen.

"Prince Endymion?" breathed out Haruka. "And Minako," said Michiru as they observed the pair rolling around in the flower meadow just a mile away from Usagi's and Demando's location, being more than just friendly.

* * *

She couldn't find anyone. The communicators were not answering, as if something was blocking her. Something had definitely happened. She had to find Setsuna.

"No need to search for me." Sailor Saturn sighed, of course, expect Sailor Pluto to show up only when needed.

"Is the princess in danger?" asked Sailor Saturn turning around.

"She is, and it is up to you to find her, as you are her sister," replied Setsuna.

Sailor Saturn seethed, she knew! She knew this would happen, and she endangered Usagi-chan this way!

"You knew!" she hissed. Sailor Pluto nodded. "It was destined to happen," came the Senshi of Time's curt reply.

Destiny. Destiny… was this all Setsuna cared about? Would she just continue throwing them into danger's way instead of warning them in advance, just because it was destiny? Would she just tear their lives apart for the sake of destiny. Sailor Saturn frowned, as a certain dark spirit came to her mind, she now had no doubt about Usagi-chan's budding feelings towards the dark soul, but would it all be for naught, when Endymion appeared again.

"Well, maybe it's time to let go of destiny," said Saturn, her eyes narrowed, anger raising the dark powers inside of her changing them, as the dark storm outside raged and howled, calling out to her. The violet mists of her castle rose from the ground enveloping her and taking her elsewhere.

Screw destiny. She would not let it allow to fuck with their lives.

She missed the smile on Pluto's face at the dimly flickering silver crescent behind her Sailor Saturn insignia.

* * *

"Besides the obvious question, of what the hell is going on between them," said Haruka, more than miffed at the lovey-dovey couple on their screen, "how did they appear in the game?"

"Well… my only guess would be that when we were ripping holes into other Kaiba Corp. game networks, they were testing out some virtual reality, and hopped into this game?" suggested Saffir.

"That's what I think too," murmured Ami, her eyes narrowed. Minako and Mamoru-san. Kissing. Hugging. Their behaviour pattern suggested that whatever what was going on between them, had been on for quite awhile. Perhaps even before they all awoke as Senshi and began their search for their comrades, Princess and Prince. Minako had known Mamoru-san all along.

"Isn't additional help good? The leader of the Senshi and Prince of Earth should provide quite a backup for the princess," said Mai. She was looking quite confused at the reaction of the Sailor Senshi and Saffir.

It was then that Haruka finally blew.

"That cheating scum! How dare he cheat on his fiancé! And what the hell is Aino doing? Has she gone crazy?" she screamed, banging her fist against the screen, much to the despair of Ami.

"Well to be fair, Haruka-koi, Usagi-chan doesn't seem to keen on Mamoru-san anymore, as I think she likes Yami-kun a lot," murmured Michiru.

"Fiancé?" asked Mai.

Saffir sighed starting to fill in the gaps for Mai, "Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity were engaged in the Silver Millennium," he said.

"Are you sure? I don't remember that…" murmured Mai, "well… to be truthful, I don't remember much about our love affairs in the Silver Millennium," she noted.

"But what about Crystal Tokyo?" exclaimed Haruka. "What about Chibi-Usa?"

An awkward silence fell upon the group, as they watched the grid map, the four dots, that were Demando, Usagi, Minako and Endymion moving closer and closer together.

* * *

Yami arrived at the shore of large pond, he was just a few miles away from Anzu, he only had to cross the pond. As he started making his way around it, suddenly the water twisted and from the water emerged the Deep Sea Warrior.

"Hello, Yugi-kun, we meet again," he said, and immediately he recognized one of the Big Five, Konosuke Oshita.

"Do you honestly think that loosing your body was worth it?" asked Yami snidely, aware of the deal the Big Five made with Noah, a very advance AI, according to Ami and Saffir.

"Yugi-kun, while loosing my body might be a misfortunate side-effect, but you misunderstand, once we get your bodies, we shall have more years to live," replied Konosuke.

"That is if you win," replied Yami curtly.

"If you would only know the sheer amount of knowledge Noah-sama transferred into our minds, you would not be so cocky," replied his adversary. "This is only an appropriate revenge on Kaiba and Pegasus. As a loyal Kaiba Corp employee I merged and took over many companies. As a loyal Industrial Illusion employee I undermined Kaiba's efforts. But in the end I was discarded, and thus I shall have my revenge, by taking down Kaiba's rival," he spoke.

Yami snorted. "I see the infinite knowledge that you're talking about already made you go mad."

"Let us play, Yugi, choose your deck carefully and choose your Deck Master, I am my own, the Deep Sea Master."

* * *

Usagi and Demando were moving according to their tracker, towards the nearest two people.

"They should be just behind the hill," said Usagi, wondering who of their friends it was. It the quick rundown Ami did, while she did mention everyone's locations, it was far too rushed for her to fully remember. Well, she hoped she would find Mako-chan, so that if anything she could back her friend up in any upcoming duels…

Demando made it first to the top of the hill, Usagi slightly behind him, as she took a bit of a more leisure walk, hearing echoes of giggles from behind the rise.

"Is that Endymion I'm seeing?" suddenly said Demando, his eyes narrowed at two forms engaged it what it seemed a friendly fight across the valley they were crossing at the moment.

"Endymion?" whispered Usagi, her face becoming pale, as she stared in horror over in that direction. Demando frowned. It was a rather strange reaction… why would she be so scared of seeing Endymion. They were good friends in their past lives.

"It can't be," whispered Usagi, and darted over to the laughing and giggling couple, Demando obediently followed the blonde Sailor Senshi, who came to a halt a few feet away from the pair, who were rolling around in the field of flower laughing.

"Minako!" exclaimed Usagi.

The pair froze as they looked at the CEO of Industrial Illusions all colour fleeting from their faces.

"We can explain," they breathed out, as Demando only looked confused between the frightened looking Senshi of Love and Endymion on one side, and Usagi who looked flabbergasted and relieved at the same time.

An uncomfortable silence stretched forever until finally Usagi breathed out, "I am so glad."

"We didn't mean to, it just happened!" shouted Minako.

"And I do not regret at all!" said Endymion. "What happened in the past should stay in the past!"

"And I am of the same opinion," calmly replied Usagi. This made things so much easier. No more Crystal Tokyo. No more destiny. If Mamoru and Minako-chan were happy together, then they should be happy together, and she could be happy with Yami-kun… once she overcame the problem of his lack of body.

"Does this mean, I have another chance with you?" slyly noted Demando, as Minako and Mamoru finally turned their attention to him.

"Prince Diamond!" growled Mamoru, immediately darting up.

"Hey! Chill out! He's on our side now!" jumped Usagi in-between the two males, "Besides, if anyone should be jumping at this declaration it should be Yami," she dryly noted, turning back to Demando, and flicking his forehead, "No, no you don't. Try someone else for a change," she said mirthfully.

"I was kidding, I was kidding!" defended himself Demando, raising his hands.

"Maybe you should just fill us in on what's happening?" weakly murmured Minako still visibly shaken from the very anticlimactic reaction from Usagi's part.

Yet even as all the tension and anxiety she had been feeling for the last week disappeared, even as she calmly filled Mamoru-san and Minako-chan on her true feelings about the whole issue with destiny, her mind still traitorously whispered: _Chibi-Usa will never exist._

* * *

It seemed like a dream. It seemed like a dream. Before the their destiny hung above them like the Damocles Sword, but now it was dissipating into thin air, as this Usagi spoke; this Usagi, who was so much more different from the Usagi that he knew, this Usagi, that managed to hide from her Senshi and her advisors that she had been having feelings for someone else than him, even after her awakening.

This Usagi was so much more free, so much more Serenity, and so much different. She was determined, she was strong and not nearly as fragile.

This Usagi had easily flicked the old destiny away as if it was a small insignificant bug. This Usagi was not easily broken, swayed or hindered. This Usagi didn't even seem to regret one single thing he always regretted when he chose Mi-chan in this life.

And this Usagi didn't seem to regret that from her choice Chibi-Usa would no longer exist. And while he wanted to ask, what about her? What about Chibi-Usa? He no longer could. He gave up that right, the moment he chose Minako.

Their paths went separate ways now.

And no doubt Sailor Pluto would not be pleased.

* * *

She felt as if she was floating on cloud nine. All her fears were gone. She wouldn't have to be separated from her beloved. And if they ever would, it would not be because of destiny, it would be because of their own choices.

Even as Demando filled them in on their current predicament, of being stuck in a virtual reality, her and Mamoru having somehow ended up from another Kaiba Corp. virtual testing unit in their game as well, she still felt giddy, even if she was ashamed to admit that she, the leader of Sailor Senshi, was not yet fully with her mind and heart in her primary task, she just was too happy.

After all… Could she dare to hope… for a happy ending? Yet reality came crashing down, as the entire light atmosphere that surrounded them dissipated, when a dark voice came from behind them, bringing with it a dark and sinister energy that seemed quite familiar.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Immediately the four were up on their feet and facing the newcomer, who seemed far too familiar, for Minako to linger in her happy thoughts.

She was tall and had pale blonde hair, almost white colour. Her hair was made up in a similar way to the princess, only she had twin buns of hair on each side of her head, and the bottom part of the hair was falling in free waves to the mid of her back. Cold cobalt eyes watched them with distaste, and all in all… she looked a lot like Usagi… only less welcoming, less warm, less pretty too, noted Minako dryly, because of the perpetual look of haughtiness draped over her features, which in time would no doubt carve wrinkles into her otherwise beautiful face.

"You!" breathed out Demando angrily.

"While I was definitely hoping to catch only you and the defective princess, but I guess extracting my revenge on Endymion, who dared to reject me and you," the stranger's eyes zoomed in on her in more than just distaste, "would be quite satisfying as well," she spoke.

"Who are you?" demanded Usagi.

At that the stranger's eyes flew wide and she started laughing.

"You do not remember?" her shrill laughter echoed, as she took a step closer to them. The blonde woman smirked, "I always knew you were not worthy to be the heir, demon spawn Serenity," her words they seemed so familiar. Those words awoke unspeakable anger within her soul.

"I remember you now," suddenly spoke Sailor Moon her tone going very sombre, "I remember the darkness and chaos that followed when your mother usurped my throne under false pretences, I remember the pain and suffering…" her voice went dark, "All because you were jealous." A golden crescent appeared on her forehead and the memories came to Minako.

The pain and destruction, the civil war, the war with Nemesis, everything was just like Mai told them.

And suddenly they looked at the woman in new light.

"Ah, good, so you're not too dumb to remember your own cousin," said the blonde woman, "Perhaps I should introduce myself, you might have known me as Shizukesa, but now I am known as Heisei, the soon to be true ruler of the Sylvan Empire, just as it was always meant to be"

"You were banished," spoke Mamoru, his words clipped, as he was barely concealing his anger.

"Lunarians have a very long life-span," replied the woman, or as they now remembered, Lady Shizukesa of the White Moon.

"Not this long, especially in the absence of the Silver Crystal," noted Demando, "with what did you make a deal to live for this long, Shizukesa?"

The cobalt blue eyes narrowed and a grotesque smile made its way to Shizukesa's face.

"Does it matter? Soon the crystal will be mine and with that I shall start a new era of the Sylvan Empire," dark energy cracked to life around her and immediately everyone else transformed.

* * *

She hated her! She hated her! That girl. That girl who ordered the execution of her mother, that girl who banished her from the Sylvan Empire, to forever wander weak, unimportant Star Systems. Well she would show them now. While she waited and waited for the Silver Crystal to return, she trained. She learned. She was no longer Shizukesa, who could not fight. She was now better than all of them. The power that she had would make them all kneel. She was Heisei now.

She would first kill Demando, the bastard who tricked her and her mother into believing that the only one who could challenge their right to the throne was dead, killed in action. She would enjoy watching Serenity suffer.

Then she would kill Endymion, that filthy Earthling, who dared to reject her. He had the opportunity to marry her, of superior lineage, yet he dared to scoff at her. That would definitely bring despair to the Princess of Venus.

And then she would knock that aggravating leader of the Sailor Senshi down. The one who dragged her, the true Princess of the White Moon, by that golden chain, through the street of Moon capital, like a lowly slave.

And finally she would kill that half-breed. After making her suffer, after making her watch her allies and friends die, she would rip out the Silver Crystal.

Yes… her plan was perfect. She spent millenniums analysing their powers, their tactics, the levels… this would not go wrong.

And then they transformed. And it was not the same as before.

Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon were different. Their uniforms were not the same. Usually it meant that they had a power-up.

'_No… don't worry… even if they did have one power-up here, it would not be enough… besides… there are no levels above the Super level…'_

But Endymion seemed different too. There was a weird glow about him, just like Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon had.

"You wanted a fight, didn't you?" asked Sailor Venus, her eyes narrowed, as her hands began to glow with that cursed golden energy. And then she leapt at her.

It was ridiculous, even with that crystal powering her, she was overwhelmed at the onslaught from the Senshi of Venus, attack after attack was flung at her, and even without touching any of them, Heisei knew that it would hurt like hell. She dodged each and every of them, backing up.

This was not within her calculations. She was supposed to completely overpower them. But instead just one of them completely shadowed all of her advance in magic, power and battle tactics.

"For all that talk you're surprisingly weak," spoke Venus, as she stopped her advance, "Or is there something wrong?" smirked the warrior, "Perhaps something outside of your calculation?"

"No, nothing is wrong," hissed Heisei, and at the next attack brought up a shield. Perhaps she was just overreacting. This just couldn't be true. This sort of power, that they wielded at the flick of their finger could not be real. It was something outside of any reason.

Yet her shield, which she had perfected at the edges of the Milky Way galaxy against countless demons, against countless adversaries just shattered, the force of Sailor Venus's attack sending her crashing into the ground.

'_Impossible…'_

"Give up now, no matter how much you improved, no matter how much you learned while we were in our rebirth cycle, you cannot defeat us. These forms of true Sailor Senshi are beneath your wildest dreams."

It was Sailor Moon who spoke. It was a repeat of the past. When Sailor Moon, hailed by the Black Moon clan as the true ruler of the White Moon was crowned, as everyone cheered, as she looked down at them with pity and at the same time disgust. She didn't change even a bit. She still was that dirty half-breed demon.

But she trained… but she learned… for what…

Yet if she were to be defeated here again…

With that Heisei simply vanished. They would not be able to follow her in this reality, but she would watch and she would learn. And next time… she would be prepared.

* * *

"She survived, I didn't quite expect that," spoke Demando, who had been watching the battle between Sailor Venus and Heisei intently. Sailor Moon shrugged. Shizukesa was just a minor hindrance. It was not as if she became a threat even in the five thousand years that she lived.

"Well, you know the saying, shit doesn't sink," came the dry comment from Endymion, earning chuckles from everyone.

"True that," giggled Sailor Venus, "though I am quite surprised… even with my limited memory… Shizukesa was never a warrior, and frankly she was quite lacking, what made her think she would be able to take us on now? She didn't improve, in my humble opinion."

"No…" Demando spoke, as everyone turned to him, "She did. If before taking her out for me, would not be an issue, now it would be quite a challenge."

"Yet Sailor Venus easily overpowered her," noted Endymion.

Sailor Moon tapped her forehead in thought. Indeed, Shizukesa was a lot more powerful now. If she could avoid a hit from Sailor Venus in her Eternal form… then she should be on a higher Super Sailor level… but….

"Of course," she breathed out, "she wasn't accounting for us getting another power up, she probably was prepared to take us out on Mistress 9 level of our battle."

"But now she knows… she could be a bigger threat," countered Sailor Venus.

"Oi, oi, oi!" waved the Moon warrior her hands, "we survived Chaos and we'll survive the return of the bitch with a superiority complex," she giggled. "As if she could ever battle the shine of star seeds! Not like she will go all Sailor Galaxia on us!" Luckily for them that was all gone and past. No more of that!

"Don't jinx it," exclaimed Venus, "Been there, done that, don't want to do it again."

"We need to warn others about her though," said Demando, "While I'm sure Sailor Jupiter is safe, I am not quite sure about the generals or the other Shadow Senshi."

The Moon warrior paled. Of course. Their friends, the ones who were yet to awaken, they were in jeopardy. If Shizukesa could not extract her revenge on them, she would go after them. And in this form, they would be just walking practice targets.

_I believe we found a solution to that._

It was the ever-familiar voice of Sailor Mercury. Ah, finally, the reason and logic and tactic behind all their successes. "Ami-chan! Did you see what happened? Did you remember her as well?" exclaimed Sailor Moon.

_I'm sorry, but we weren't near you, when the Silver Crystal triggered your memories, but I Mai-san filled us in. I believe we did find a solution though._

"Wait, didn't you say you weren't able to contact us, lest Noah kicked you out of the system for good?" asked Demando.

_Yes, but for now we have quite powerful fluctuations masking our presence, due to the activation of Senshi powers… Shizukesa's, or as she calls herself now Heisei, her presence also revealed to us a peculiarity about the virtual reality and a hint on how it functions. At the very least, we shall now be able to provide a means of travel for you guys, and means to share the memories between all Sailor Senshi. We'll have to manually fill in the others about Shizukesa, but shouldn't be much of a bother…_

Well… at least there was a nice side effect to transformation. Would have done so sooner, if they had known, thought the Moon Warrior. But if Ami had a plan, and knew of possible dangers… "Is anyone in danger at the moment? I mean, like Anzu, Honda or Jounoochi?" she asked.

_Honda-san is with Ryuji-san, and in a few minutes they will meet up with Mako-cahn, Jounoochi-san and Anzu-san are currently duelling and Yami-san has almost reached Anzu-san, he'll be able to protect her. A couple of you has to get to Jounoochi-san, as Mai-san said Shizukesa might go after him, if he wins…_

"If he wins?" exclaimed Sailor Moon worriedly. Jounoochi coulnd't loose! Yugi would be destroyed! He was his best friend!

_Well, it's not going too well yet, but I guess we can't loose hope… shall we perhaps proceed?_

Ami was right. They couldn't loose time. Even if Jounoochi-kun won, Shizukesa could strike just then. "How shall we do this then?"

_With the power of the Silver Crystal of course…_

And Usagi barely contained a smirk. Of course. How else. Always the Silver Crystal.

* * *

Sailor Saturn floated above the storm clouds, the winds were not pulling on her up here. There was only the presence of the moon that was pulling at a part of her mind, gently coaxing her and awakening a new sort of power.

It felt familiar. It felt warm and comforting. And as she closed her eyes, she could almost feel warm hands stroking her hair, singing a long forgotten lullaby.

_I believe in you, my daughter, _the wind seemed to whisper and her eyes flew wide open, silver streaks running through the irises as she finally could feel Usagi's location and the power of the Silver Crystal, and then came the flood of memories.

* * *

**End Chapter 10**

* * *

_**03/January/2013 – **__I am ready for your angry cried at where the fuck you disappeared, what happened and so on. All I can say… I had a very very hectic year in London, I had very hectic personal relationships, but now I am quite settled, well as settled as I can ever be, so you can expect semi-regular updates from me… well… as regular as my personal life distractions will not hog me all to themselves. _

_-falls to knees- Do not hate me for being so disloyal to my stories… but love comes first! Otherwise… just as usual. I will post up in a bit a short summary of_

* * *

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the duels/duels/duels.**

**So, motivate the author. 10 reviews per chapter is the minimum I demand. Nothing excuses you from not reviewing my stories if you like them. –laughs maniacally and disappears into darkness-**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	12. 11: Memory Overdrive

**17/05/2013 -** Welcome to the next chapter of Acheron: Infinitas. In the last chapter our heroes instead of getting out of the Virtual Adventure were flung into another realm further down, where they met the mastermind Noah, who is apparently in league with an old enemy from the Moon Kingdom time, Heisei, also known as Lady Shizukesa of the Moon.

* * *

_**Thanks everyone who reviewed and continued to support this story: bur bur **(I don't think I'll be ever able to drop the Acheron series, now that I actually mapped outboth of the stories), **Evangeline11 **(Well, we're nearing theend of Part I of Acheron: Infinitas, which means it's almost Battle City time and Rei and Malik shall return), **Marc Ello, ****HoshinoKaabii13 **(I'm about as rarely appearing as a shooting star in the sky, haha, sorry), **The Queen of Waver, wildflower1014, Krissy **(Yami adn Usa still have a long way to go), **Anime Princess (**but you know, Yami also has his destiny, Usagi has done with this, but Yami needs to do that too), **Saris Yui (**it was the leader of the Sailor Senshi who led hew through the street of Moon Capital, as in Sailor Venus that led Shizukesa in chains) and all the **Guests.**_

* * *

_**Names (first name is highlighted):**_  
_**Ryuji**__ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_  
_Jounoochi__** Katsuya **__(Joey Wheeler)_  
_**Shizuka**__ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_  
_**Anzu**__ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_  
_**Honda **__Hiroto (Tristan Taylor)_  
_**Pegasus **__J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_  
_**Cyndia **__Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_  
_**Sugoroku **__Mutou (Solomon Muto)_  
_**Mai **__Kujaku (Mai Valentine)_  
_Sarutawari (Kemo)_  
_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_  
_Chikuzen Oka(Johnson – Judge Man)_  
_Kogoro Daimon (Lector – Jinzo)_  
_Shuzo Otaki (Adrian Randolph Crump III – Nightmare Penguin)_  
_Konosuke Oshita (Gansley – Deepsea Warrior)_  
_Soichiro Ota (Nesbitt – Robotic Knight)_

* * *

**A.c.h.e.r.o.n: I.n.f.i.n.i.t.a.s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 11**

* * *

… _Hotaru froze in front of the grand twin marble doors embedded with pearls and quartz. She loved her mother, but, but this… seeing her alone, without her sister always was an issue for the somber second princess of the Moon, heir of Saturn. But she had a task, and it would be impolite to avoid her mother and send a servant, when she obviously worried about Serenity, who had a knack for getting into too much trouble, much to Aunt Miriam's delight and the chagrin of their mother, Queen Selenity._

_She knocked quietly and opened the door. Her mother cringed slightly as the silver-lavender eyes rested upon her form, and a little bit of Hotaru withered away again. It had been always this way, ever since father died. She could see the love in her mother's eyes towards her, but whenever Selenity looked at her, it seemed as if she would burst out crying any moment. It wasn't anyone's fault really: Hotaru just looked like a carbon copy of her father, the late King Thanatos. _

_Hiding her emotions, Selenity, clasped her hands together, "Have you found her?"_

_Hotaru shook her head, "Honestly, mother, I don't know where Serenity is…"_

_As her mother groaned in irritation, Hotaru bit back a small chuckle, it was no secret that Serenity liked to sneak out of the palace and mingle with the commoners. Selenity groaned, as she sat down, "Didn't I tell her she was supposed to meet Prince…_

* * *

… _Another whispered insult. Hotaru glared darkly at the one, who dared to speak badly abut her:__she hated them all__._

_A glass of wine was immediately dumped down her throat. This would end up in a terrible headache later, and it wasn't really correct of her to drink at her age, but this was exactly what she needed right now. As she set down the empty wine glass on a table, a hand was extended towards her._

_"May I have this dance, Princess Hotaru?" asked a pleasant low male voice. She turned to the speaker, only to drown in violet__(3)__eyes the same color as her own. His face was unlike the pale visage most people here possessed: just as tan as the people of Kemet – yet his hair was white and spiky. For a second Hotaru considered whether to accept his offer, as she looked at the smirking stranger. And for some reason she nodded, taking his offered hand immediately whisked off to fast waltz._

_"So, what is the name of my dashing partner who stole me away from the silly palace gossips," she asked._

_"Now that's something for me to know and for you to find out," replied the young man cryptically._

_"I could very well order you to answer me," noted dryly the black-haired princess._

_"But you won't," replied the youth with a chuckle._

_"What makes you so sure of that?" she challenged._

_"Because it would ruin all the fun," murmured the stranger._

_A smirk crossed Hotaru's pale lips, "I will humor you, even though I shouldn't. So what should I call you?"_

_"Call me, Ra." Their violet eyes met and something stirred within Hotaru. Something that she always tried to hide from everyone. This part of her: the Silence. She pushed the sensation away._

_"Ra? As in the Sun God?" she inquired._

_"Though I am nothing but a mere servant hiding in his shadow," grinned the youth who identified himself as Ra…_

* * *

…_She was looking again in the eyes that captivated her so much, that she forgot about everything, including the Silence. But yet, he managed to aggravate her so easily, so simply, that she just wanted to slap him. Finally Hotary barely restraining a growl replied. "You're treading on a thin rope here, Ra."_

_"Am I?" the white-haired young man laughed._

_"You are." Hotaru nodded crossing her arms, eyes narrow. Her _

_"Yet somehow I feel as if you are enjoying my company," Ra replied, his voice light and teasing. Flirting. It was a new experience altogether._

_"Why do you presume so?" she murmured, feeling a blush taint her cheeks._

_Ra leaned in and whispered huskily, "I am the only one not afraid of you," he assured her. Now this hit the mark. The only one who wasn't afraid of her, unlike everyone else… who would always fear her, but no… it wasn't true! She had her sister! Her mother! Her comrades!_

_"You're wrong. There are others," the princess of Saturn bit back._

_One of his eyebrows rose. "Really?"_

_"Yes!" exclaimed Hotaru._

_"Very well… yet the others except the Sailor Soldiers fear you, as if you are chaos and evil personified," he said. Immediately the words gained a reaction as her shoulders slumped and she stared down at the grass in anger. It was true, and sometimes she thought that maybe the Sailor Senshi were fearing her powers as well. The only one who was never ever a stranger to her was Serenity. _

_"I might as well be, for all they care."_

_"That's wrong." At the reply, Hotaru glanced up at him skeptically._

_"I am the child of Saturn," she murmured, her voice bitter, "the future Queen of Destruction, the future leader of the armies," forcing herself to calm down, she continued speaking in a flat tone. _

_Ra's eyes narrowed at her pitiful show of weakness and then he spoke: "How interesting. You shall be a stigma, while your sister basks in glory…"_

_"She doesn't." _

_"Hm?"_

_Cold crept up from the inside and threatened to engulf her, as Silence stirred as well, and the words she knew not to be true, affected so badly. Why? She knew this was not the case. And that if anything Serenity wanted would be to take all of her suffering onto her shoulders too, but she couldn't._

_Her eyes moved up, to avoid meeting his dark gaze that was too penetrating and they landed on the blue-green gem that was the Earth. Somehow, it felt as if destiny has set it's wheels in motion and that everything was connected to that planet. There… they would find their meaning of existence. Finally she spoke. "She's just as sad. Somehow… I feel as if it a destiny of a Sailor Soldier to be sad."_

_Ra snorted, "She is not a Sailor Soldier. What does she know of war and suffering?"_

_Hotaru sighed. "But for how long?"…_

* * *

…_The intercom lit up her features, as the flashing screen indicated that her sister was calling. She would be at Jupiter by now. It had been awhile since they had spoken. The black-haired princess accepted the call and on the screen appeared the smiling face of her older sister._

"_Hi! Hi! Hiiii!" chirped Serenity happily._

"_You are certainly cheerful, how are you?" Hotaru said with a smile._

"_Hotaru, dear sister, I missed you, how is everything with you?" _

"_I missed you too. Just the usual Sailor Soldier duties and preparing for taking the throne of Saturn. Is everything alright with you. How is your trip to Jupiter, dear sister?" It was always heart-warming hearing the bright voice of Serenity, after not seeing her for a while, without her the castle missed something._

"_Yes! It is!" exclaimed the moon child, "Very much so! We saw the ruins of the early Tankei colonies!" She paused and then added, "It was interesting."_

"_My older sister interested in history? Hell must have frozen over," dryly noted Hotaru._

"_Indeed," murmured Serenity in a forlorn voice, something she rarely heard._

"_Something wrong?" Hotaru asked, "You know you can tell me anything?" she prodded, but Serenity shook her head._

"_Oh no, nothing is wrong!" Hotaru's eyes narrowed at her sister's reply, what if..._

"_Boy troubles? Is Prince…_

* * *

…"_Protect Serenity! I'll take care of them!" Sailor Saturn shouted as she pushed her sister into the arms of the Egyptian prince, turning back to the creatures. She had been told about them, when she little, it was like a horror story. Fast, agile, resilient, their blood was acid that could probably melt even the pillar of prayers. Black silicone based skin glistened in the dim light, hissing and clicking noises were coming from the creatures, as they communicated with each other. A Silence Glaive Surprise attack did little to diminish their number and as far as she concerned nothing short of Death Ribbon Revolution would stop them, but that was not an option._

_Serenity had to live…_

* * *

…_Was she still alive? Or was she in the afterlife? Her gloved hand grabbed at the ground; no, they were still on Titan. Serenity! Sailor Saturn shot up wide-eyed, her heart beating fast. Did she fail? Yet as she looked around all around were dead bodies of the xenomorphs. The Egyptian prince lay still next to her, still knocked out from when she saw him fall, just before the creatures ambushed her. And a few feet away stood a Sailor Senshi, one she had never seen before, but she immediately knew who that was. Sailor Moon. Golden pigtails flew in the wind, as the newly awakened Sailor Senshi held her weapon, which was eerily similar to her own scythe, with the blade shaped like a crescent._

_The peace was over…_

* * *

…"_It's all my fault! It's all my fault," she cried, as her sister gently held her in a warm embrace._

"_How is the war your fault, Hotaru, dear, it's not!" Serenity whispered in a comforting voice, her soft hands going through Hotaru's hair, calming the distraught princess if just a bit._

"_Because I failed to protect you and you awakened as Sailor Moon, and the peace is gone." Serenity laughed a short and bitter laugh, and Hotaru's heart trembled. Surely her sister wasn't blaming her for this. Surely she didn't agree with the council members._

"_That's just stupid," said Serenity after a moment of silence. "I awakened, because the time of peace was over, not the other way around."_

_It made sense, but still she doubted. Hotaru stuttered, "But… but… the prophecy…"_

_Suddenly two warm hands were holding her head, their warmth penetrating her cheeks, "The prophecy was probably twisted around by paranoid old council members, never blame yourself, if anyone is to blame, it's me for continuing to train to be Sailor Moon… but if I didn't… we wouldn't be sitting here…"_

_Her sister, the airhead, was changing and it was good, but those shadows in her eyes… for that Hotaru would always blame herself. Hadn't she promised to be the darkness to their sister's light? What was she supposed to be now. _

"_Happy birthday, dear sister," whispered Serenity smiling, taking out a familiar golden item from he folds of her skirt. The Starlocket was hung on Hotaru's neck and for the first time since the settling of the Sylvans in this star system the cycle of heirloom has been broken._

"_But… this is a heirloom…" murmured Hotaru, shaking her head, "I can't accept this," Reaching back to unclasp it she said: "You should give it to your husband!"_

_Yet Serenity grabbed her hands and pulled them away, smiling brightly: "Screw the old traditions, I'm giving you this, because you are my most important sister. So don't blame yourself anymore, and remember I'm always here for you."…_

* * *

High above the stormy clouds encircling Tokyo, Sailor Saturn floated, dormant power having awakened her memories, aimlessly she stared at the moon. In a twisted way, even though she had tried to deny the new found past, it made sense. It made a lot more sense, than her, being a Soldier of Destruction having slept in her planet's core, while the other princesses all fought to protect the Kingdom. It certainly made a lot more sense.

Though she would have thought that the memories of the past would bring at least some kind of closure to the turmoil in her heart, but instead she felt even more torn. The strange relationship she had with her mother, the guilt she always carried with her, and the Silence. The Messiah of Silence, Mistress 9, the one who brought Pharaoh 90 to planet Earth.

The wind ruffled her skirt and hair, as her fall began just as she realized the horrible truth with each second of acceleration the noise in her ears grew and grew until all she could hear was the howl of the wind around her. If the Moon Kingdom fell under the siege from Mistress 9, then… the real reason the Moon Kingdom fell lay within her.

Sailor Saturn subdued a sniff, as tears were gathering in her eyes, and she wasn't sure it was because of the wind It was her fault. She apparently had succeeded at making the Death Busters invasion happen, or at least annihilated everything. Just like Metallia supposedly had. It could have been better. But she… she destroyed their happy lives, before she was an android in her previous incarnation, with her father possessed and conducting experiments on her, before this dysfunctional family she had been born into fell apart, where her older sister abandoned her… older sister…

* * *

"_Tomoe-kun! Do you want to go have lunch together? I have some burgers from the Steakhouse down the road from the school!" She remembered, how it was first when Usagi started attending her boarding school. Everyone who was so content on ignoring the very few weird girls in their school, like herself, stayed away from them. And then this cheerful, a bit obnoxious girl came. From day one Usagi came up to her, and extended her hand loudly speaking her name and stating that she liked her, Hotaru Kujaku. But the other peppy girls of the class quickly dragged the blonde heiress away from her._

'_Freaky.' 'Creep.' 'Goth.' 'Satanist.' She knew what the little gossip queens whispered about her. She didn't care. And apparently so didn't Usagi. Because that didn't stop Usagi from continuously approaching her and the three other outcasts of the school. And still she fought back against the infecting positivity. _

_Giving Usagi a smirk Hotaru replied. "Burgers? Crawford-san, really?" _

_Usagi just shrugged, "Yeah, is there anything wrong with burgers. Come on I'll share some with you too. They're serving jacket potato for lunch." At this both girls scrunched up their faces._

"_I know, you'd think you see more variety, but English cooking is rather plain, it's good sometimes, but so…" Hotaru paused as she thought of a suitable word, what would it be. _

"_Homely?" Usagi offered._

"_Exactly!_

* * *

But her older sister if not by blood, but definitely in spirit was still here with her, ever since they met again, Usagi was there. For all of them. The school's supposed gang member, Makoto. The school nerd, Ami. And the girl whom all tried to imitate, Minako, a fame slag as the bad-mouthed girls called her. Usagi found them all and saved them from loneliness. And she continued doing that all the time - she was the glue that held them together. And Usagi-chan needed her now. In a split moment, the second that thought fluttered through her head, sharp pain ripped through her back and then her fall stopped. Glancing back Sailor Saturn discovered a pair of pristine white wings. A new kind of power had awoken within her, and she could almost see the bright glow of Usagi's starseed behind the horizon, out in the sea beckoning to her.

With a flap of her powerful wings, Sailor Saturn sped off into the distance.

* * *

The moment that strange girl, after whom Heisei was after, transformed all of his monitoring systems started shutting down, one by one he was loosing signal of all the people inside of his virtual realm, and for one thing, Noah didn't like it at all.

"This doesn't make any sense, this is my world, their minds should accept the laws and physics of the world where they are, why is she breaking through all of the program?"

"Because that is the power of the Silver Crystal," softly spoke a female voice behind him.

Noah didn't even bother looking back. In the last two weeks he heard it enough to know who that was. Heisei, the woman had appeared in his virtual realm one day, and offered him a way back into the Kaiba Corp, to get a body, to get back at Seto for stealing what was supposed to be his: the company and his father's attention. She fell into the virtual reality like a meteor, and she carried with her a strange crystal, she called it the Sapphir Crystal and said that it was the last remnant of a very powerful warrior that protected the galaxy many thousand years ago.

And so she wove her plan, she got the Big Five to abduct Seto Kaiba and Usagi S. Crawford, and trapped them in the virtual reality, by all means they should have lost the first game, he even programmed in a means to stop that strange power of Crawford and her friends, but this time, it was overcoming it.

"I didn't expect her to use the Silver Crystal, after all, I remember that it used to take out a lot out of her, using it could very well mean her death."

Noah scoffed at Heisei's words, what was in the past, that was in the past. Obviously she didn't know what happened to her nemesis while she hadn't seen her.

"Then either you remember wrong, or your information is outdated, the output of power is consistent and in no way, can I see it waning. I'd be more interested if you'd tell me how to stop this from happening. The control must be back in our hands."

The youth turned around, his arms crossed as he looked expectantly at Heisei. The blonde woman massaged her temples in exasperation.

"Have the bodies arrived on your ship?" she asked finally after a moment of thought.

"Yes."

"Then she should have the Silver Crystal somewhere on her. At least that's what the situation was last time I saw her. She always carried it on her," explained Heisei. She came over to the controls, her hand glowing for a moment, and an image of crystal in different shapes came up.

"Alright, I'll send a droid to search her."

* * *

Diamond, Sailor Venus and Endymion kept their distance, as Sailor Moon under the instructions of Mercury was utilizing the power of Silver Crystal to make pathways for them to travel to get to their comrades. The reality around Sailor Moon was flickering, changing from the field of flowers to icy tundra, desert, a manor, as the warrior's eyes were closed in concentration her palms cupped around the golden broach at her breasts.

The power flow then stopped and two doors appeared beside Sailor Moon, seemingly leading into nowhere. She lowered her hands, and azure blue eyes opened.

'_Alright guys, Sailor Moon has opened two pathways for you. One will take you to the Kaiba brothers, the other will take you to Jounoochi. Honda-kun is with Makoto and Otogi, so he's safe and Yami is about to reach Anzu, according to our calculations he should be fine if Heisei appears.'_

"So how do we do this?" asked Sailor Venus, coming to stand next to Sailor Moon.

"You and Endymion go to Jounoochi, you already know Jounoochi. Diamond and I shall go find Seto, since he wouldn't listen to you guys," Sailor Moon replied instantly.

"Alright, right or left?" asked the Senshi of love.

"Left." Sailor Moon beckoned Diamond, as she opened the door. Turning back, she gave Venus a smile and wink, "See you in a bit," she glances at Endymion, "lovebirds." With a cheeky smile Sailor Moon pulled Diamond into the doorway after herself, as the couple flushed.

"Well," trailed off Endymion, glancing at Venus, who was still a bit shocked, at the conclusion of their worries about their status and Sailor Moon, "we should get going, Mi-chan," he pulled at blonde Sailor Senshi's hand, getting her out of the stupor.

"_Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!_" the loud squeal erupted from Sailor Venus, "I'm so happy!" she exclaimed, and latching onto his arms, dragged the pricne of earth through the other doorway.

* * *

The orphanage before the Kaiba brothers was like something from a bad dream. Their past was so different to what they had now, that at some point it started to seem like it had been just a nightmare. Their mother died after Mokuba had been born, and then when Mokuba was only three, their father got into a car accident, which left them orphans. Their relatives only came to receive the will of their father and after having gone through their trust fund left them in the orphanage.

"Welcome boys," a soft familiar voice from that past said.

Seto turned around, and there they were, the six year old he, and three year old Mokuba, holding onto each other as if they very lives depended on it. This was the day that they were dropped off. Alone. That day Mokuba ran away and spent the whole day sitting on the swing in the park where they used to play until Seto found him.

"Let's go back, Mokuba," said the young version of him to the much younger version of Mokuba. Why were they reliving the images of their past here in this realm? Besides him the real Mokuba slowly took hold of his hand, an action he hadn't done in a long while. His brother's palm was sweaty and slightly trembling.

"I'm sorry, nii-sama, I though I could turn back the time to when Dad was alive if I could go to the park where we used to play," said young Mokuba. Seto could still remember his own words of assurance he spoke to Mokuba on that day. '_Mokuba, don't cry anymore. I know how you feel. We're not stray dogs or rubbish. Don't worry about those people that made us like this. I'll make sure you can live happily. From now on, I'll be your father. I'll protect you no matter what. So stop crying. Listen always be on your guard, you'll be finished if you show weakness.'_

Was he always such a serious child? Or was it only after their father died.

"That's my older brother's usual act," noted Mokuba dryly, squeezing his hand, feeling Seto's distraught.

The somber voice was broken by a bright voice. "Oh my, I think we arrived at a wrong moment." Seto sighed. Trust her to appear at the wrong moment. In a way she was just like her father, always mucking up the moment.

"Sailor Moon!" exclaimed Mokuba. Seto barely contained a sigh of exasperation, and of course, his brother 'fanboying' over the super-hero and the fact that he could talk to her on a regular basis. This blonde menace would fill his little brother's head with unnecessary stories of magic, and he'd be damned if that meant that Mokuba decided to major in magic instead of science. That would be embarrassing.

As he turned around to face the newly arrived Diamond and Sailor Moon, the scene shifted back to the orphanage.

"This looks rather familiar…" murmured Sailor Moon looking around confused, when her eyes landed on young Seto and Mokuba playing chess, she squealed, "Oh my god, you guys are so cute as children, it just makes me want to pinch your cheeks so much." The two brothers flushed immediately, Mokuba in embarrassment and Seto in indignation.

"I was never cute," he exclaimed, much to his chagrin Diamon and Sailor Moon only giggled and pointed back to the mini versions of him and his brother.

"Nii-sama won again!" exclaimed young Mokuba, "And in only five moves this time! You're really great!"

"But still… this looks familiar, is this your school?" asked Sailor Moon looking around.

Seto frowned. He didn't want to reply. But when she looked at him, her curiosity almost leaking out of those big eyes, he sighed and conceded. It would be best to tell her, otherwise she would just be bothering him about it for the next three hours. It was the same way when he mentioned a secret project he wanted to do with Industrial Illusions, but had to make some last adjustment: Usagi Crawford poked him for five hours straight, following him around, just to have him finally tell her what was the whole hype about and just left after that.

"It's the orphanage we were left in, by our relatives after our parents died."

Sailor Moon froze. His voice conveyed more than adequately that she had asked a bothersome question. "But… I thought Gozaburo was your father," she weakly supplied.

"Adopted," deadpanned Mokuba.

"Oh… ok…"

"Tohoku Kids Orphanage," said Diamond, as he walked to a pin board, and read out the name of the establishment.

"Tohoku…" Sailor Moon looked suddenly quite attentively at the two Kaiba brothers, making Seto quite uncomfortable and yet this brought back some long forgotten memories. The scene rapidly shifted and they were outside with the other orphans.

That day some sponsor had brought a circus to their orphanage. He remembered that day very well, because some girl had made fun of him for not knowing Duel Monsters, the new hype, but when she was told that the orphanage had no money for the cards, that deflated her ego and she walked off, that made Seto very pleased, putting her in place. But next week starting packs with enough cards for all the kids and some booster packs arrived in the orphanage. Courtesy of Industrial Illusions.

"Impossible!" breathed out Seto, just as Sailor Moon cried out, "Hey, I remember this day. Dad was doing charity circus performances for all the orphanages he supported, and he sent me to play with the kids here."

Mokuba glanced in surprise at Sailor Moon, "I don't remember much of that day, I think I had a jetlag from the travel. But I feel as if there is something I should remember."

Seto snorted, "You were just as annoying as a kid, as you are now."

"Huh?" The moon warrior blinked in surprise. "Did I meet you that time?"

Seto just shook his head.

Mokuba looked between him and Sailor Moon, confused, until the events dawned on him as well. "Hey, could you have been the immature female creature, who was so high up on her horse and ranted on about Duel Monsters that annoyed my brother?"

Sailor Moon laughed nervously, "Sounds like me on a jetlag."

"We should get going," spoke Seto, turning away from his brother, Sailor Moon and Diamond. He really didn't want to be experiencing this in front of other people. He had thought that time had healed old wounds, but now, face-to-face with this, the wounds were starting to feel itchy.

Yet the place had a mind of it's own and the happy festivity shifted to a quiet scene. No children were outside, two caretakers stood outside, expecting the limousine that stopped in front of the gates.

"Gozaburo… Kaiba," breathed out Seto, hadn't it been ages since he saw the man. His last memory of him was the face full of pain on his dead body, after the man jumped out of the window of Kaiba Corp, after Seto took over the company.

The four of them watched the scene of Seto challenging Kaiba unfold in silence. Move after move young Seto was holding up against Gozaburo, his plan set in motion.

"Though there is one thing that confuses me," said Sailor Moon suddenly. "You said that you were adopted, I assume this is after the circus incident." Seto nodded in agreement. "But I do remember briefly meeting Gozaburo's son, when I was about four, that would have been three years before the circus sponsored by my father."

"Gozaburo didn't have a son," said Mokuba.

"Are you sure?"

Seto and Mokuba exchanged glances. It was true, they didn't know. But then again, Gozaburo from the day he adopted them, sent Seto straight to learning. He had an awful loads of educational books starting from pre-school all the way up to university entrance levels.

"Or maybe he never told you," suggested Diamond.

That would be quite in character of Gozaburo. But if he had a son, what happened to him? The scenes shifted through his first day at the Kaiba house and forwards and forwards, till the dinner, all this time he could feel pitying gazes upon him. Usagi S. Crawford and Diamond Ace were pitying him. He didn't;'t need it. He was fine.

"It's fine. They do not think less of you," a hushed whisper came from his brother. Seto looked down in confusion, but Mokuba was intently watching the events of their past. The young CEO snuck a gaze back at their two companions, and while he could definitely feel that they felt sorry for the hard past they had, there were no sobs or anything of the sappy kind.

"What is your vision for Kaiba Corporation?" asked past-Gozaburo.

Past-Seto looked down and them quietly spoke: "I want to build Kaiba Land." Past-Gozaburo awarded him an indifferent gaze, and then past-Mokuba interrupted.

"It's like a Disneyland for unprivileged children!"

"Boring." Spoke the intimidating man, "Games do not do anything. Games will not help you rule the world," Gozaburo turned to the butler next to him, "Take his toys away. Until he learns how to rule, he can't have any."

The scene shifted to Duel Monster's cards and chess, and board games confiscated from the luggage, as past-Seto watched it with an unreadable expression, even his brother seemed more concerned about the loss.

"That day, I went and hid my most important treasure," suddenly spoke Mokuba, observing the situation, "It was something I found in a booster pack, I wanted to give it to my brother on his birthday, but since he was really down… I gave it to him that night, to hide away, that card alone was worth more than all the cards that were thrown away."

Seto breathed in loudly, as the scene changed, to him coming back exhausted from all the studies to his room, and the finding that on his bed. That card made him obsessed. The moment he saw it, he knew it had to belong to him, all of them, that no one else was meant to have that card.

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon card…" he whispered, "You were the one who placed it on my bed?"

"You didn't think it was the tooth fairy?" cheekily said Mokuba, poking his side, "It's just that the moment I saw that card, I knew I could probably defeat you in a duel, but using that against you seemed wrong, the card was meant to be yours."

The room dissolved and left them in the darkness as someone started clapping.

"Come out!" shouted Sailor Moon.

"No need to be so pushy, just because you have super powers doesn't mean you're invincible," said a cold voice, from the darkness a boy about ten years of age emerged, Noah.

"Have you had your fun yet?" sneered Kaiba.

Blue eys shifted to look at Seto, cruel amusement reflecting back at the group. "I did. I quite applaud you brotherly feelings. But this is not quite over yet, I hope you enjoyed the warm up, but I'm going to make you relive all the things you did to chase Gozaburo Kaiba into a corner."

"Not if we stop you first," exclaimed Sailor Moon.

"do not underestimate what we are capalble of," said Diamond quietly. To that Noah just smirked, "We'll just have to see, until later," and he was gone just uike that.

"Who is he?! And what does he want with us?!" exclaimed Mokuba.

"He's making you suffer for what you put Gozaburo through," Diamond replied.

"But why? Why would he be interested in avenging that old man," murmured Sailor Moon out loud, "unless…"

Seto glanced at her. "Unless?"

"Unless he's that son that Gozaburo had."

The next scene of Seto's past shifted in as they stood in silence at the realization of the sudden possibility of their plight.

* * *

Anzu Mazaki was generally a very lucky girl. She had an amazing family, friends, she was popular and she was good at dancing, maybe even really good. Luck seemed to love her, well except lately. The last two hours she had spent climbing out of the chasm above which the rope bridge had broken, it had saved her form the Cyclops but now she had the daring task of getting to the top. Taking small breaks every now and then the brunette was making a steadfast approach to the top. Sweat was pouring down her face, as she struggled. Only ten feet more and she'd reach the top. She paused for a moment and wondered where everyone else was. Eight feet. Where they looking for her or where they having their own problems? Six feet. She wondered if Yami and Yugi were fine. Four feet. They definitely were, Yami would protect them. Two feet. Usagi S. Crawford didn't have to come waltzing into her life and steal him away. She could fend for herself.

With a grunt she made the final effort, and climbed up onto the solid ground, with a soft sigh she collapsed on the ground, the exhaustion immediately dragging her into sleep.

* * *

_When Anzu opened her eyes she was in her school, Yugi looking at her expectantly. She was safe, no longer chased by Cyclops or some other monsters._

"_Oh Yugi, I had a dream we were trapped in a virtual reality!" she cried out, "It was really scary, thank god it was only a dream."_

_Yugi raised one eyebrow, and then said, "But Anzu-chan, this is a dream."_

_And the horror of being alone once awake came back to Anzu._

"_Don't worry though," dream Yugi said, he passed her a duel monster card, "You'll need this one, I'm sure Mana will be able to guide you."_

"_Mana?" Anzu looked at dream-Yugi in wonder, but it was Yami. The red eyed spirit nodded. "That's her name. Do you remember attending a show about her?" he asked, Anzu nodded reluctantly. The Broadway show which made her decide that she would once be part of such performances as well was a vivid memory. But the dream that it gave her still seemed so far away. The dancer who played the Dark Magician Girl was stunning. Would she ever be able to be at her level? The dream suddenly changed and she was sitting in the audience at that very same show._

'_The Dark Magician Girl would like some help from the audience now,' spoke the announcer and suddenly Anzu was wearing the blue-pink outfit and flying next to Dark Magician Girl above the stage, and in the crowd she saw Yugi and Yami sitting there, and most of all there was adoration and wonder in their eyes. If she would get the chance and money, she would definitely perform in this show after finishing her dance school. _

_Suddenly there was a honking noise that interrupted the performance and her Dark Magician Girl outfit faded. Another honking sounds and the audience started dissolving into darkness, and so did Yugi and Yami._

"_No! Wait!" exclaimed the brunette girl._

* * *

But the dream fled away and groggily Anzu opened her eys only to see a penguin staring at her. "Huh? What is a penguin doing here?" The penguin waddled away and as Anzu stared in confusion at the bird, it turned around and beckoned her with the wing. Anzu blinked and pointed at herself.

If penguins could sigh, this one would have and with a nod of its beak it started wobbling away from the chasm. "Oh well, what harm can a penguin do?" murmured Anzu to herself, pushing herself off the ground, to follow the exotic bird. Their path led through the jungle, to a river where there was a log raft upon which there were more penguins, and for a second Anzu thought that this might also be just a dream. Reluctantly she climbed onto the draft and it took off. Turn, turn, turn, straight calm water, another turn, another one, and then they were out on the sea and all the penguins with her just jumped off.

"What now…" she whispered, hoping nothing bad would come out of this, but the raft carried by the draft just went further, until in the distance she saw a castle… a penguin themed castle.

"I must be dreaming, right?" said Anzu, pinching herself, as her travel device hit the icy shore before the castle. "Oh well," she shrugged, she had nothing better to do than to follow this path and hope she wouldn't get eaten by some orcs.

As she made it to the top of the stairs and into the castle, she saw giant penguins standing around, as if watching her. Distraught the girl called out, "Is anyone here?"

For a second she could hear her own words echoing back at her, but then a voice from the darkness came: "Mazaki Anzu, sixteen years old, shoe size 5," a light lit up somewhere and a table with a giant King Emperor was revealed several feet away from her. "Are you ready for the auditions?" the penguin in the suit asked, "I heard you want to perform in the Dark Magician Girl in the Moonlight show."

"Who are you?" asked Anzu quietly, sneakily glancing around to see if she ahd any means of escape.

"Let me introduce myself, I am Shuzo Otaki from the Big 5, head of personnel in Kaiba Corp, f, I was fired by Kaiba Corporation and discarded by Industrial Illusions after failing to take over Kaiba Corp," the penguin icked up a stack of papers and arranged the monocle straight, "But enough about me, let's see what this says about you. Due to your father's job you moved around quite a lot, the Dark Magician Girl musical you saw in New York, you're good at sports, but you refuse to join any clubs because you secretly work in a fast-food restaurant trying to save up money to study overseas." The penguin crumpled up the paper he was reading and moved onto the next one, "You're also interceded in one of the stupid young men here," at that Anzu flushed, "but it seems you have no future with him, because he's interested in someone else." How dare he make fun of her. If only she had the chance to prove to Yami that she was just as amazing as Usagi S. Crawford. Maybe for now the competition was out of her league, but one day…

"You have littered 12 times in your life, forgotten to turn off the faucet 35 times, left the lights on 62 times. You squander resources without any regret, and that is one of the sources of global warming, which will cause suffering to the penguins." Shuzo, the Nightmare penguin said, placing the stack of papers careleslly aside, "I shall duel you and use your body to be a high school girl who cares about the future of planet Earth."

'_Nutcase…' _Anzu's mind supplied, this was definitely the cue to make her escape. But as she started running off, the landscape around her changed and she was stuck on an iceberg rising out of the ocean, the Nightmare Penguin Shuzo several feet away from her on another iceberg. As a Duel Disk appeared on her hand, she knew she had no choice.

"There's no running away," said Shuzo, "You might as well surrender now!" A cackle came out of his penguin mouth and Anzu fought down a shiver. _'I must do it… there's no Yami to save me this time…' _The thought alone terrified the poor school girl, but she had to win, there was no way an old pervert would get _her _body, she still needed it, thank you very much! In a moment, she had finished picking out her cards having added Dark Magician Girl, a card dream Yugi suggested she use to her deck.

"And now let us pick our deck masters, I shall be the Nightmare Penguin, my own Deck Master!"

"And I pick her!" On cue the Dark Magciain Girl appeared behind her, winking at the brunette.

"_Don't worry, Anzu dear! Let's make you pretty so the prince falls in love with you at first sight!" A blonde girl applied kohl beneath her eyes. "But Mana, this is impossible, I'm a commoner at birth, and princes marry only princesses." At that her companion pouted. "But Anzu, you are a princess of the Daevas!"_

The vision faded and Anzu froze staring into the eyes of the Dark Magician Girl. "What was that?" she whispered, eyes wide, but the Duel Monster girl smiled mysteriously, and wagged her finger in front of Anzu's face the same way she had seen Dark Magician do so many times.

'_That's a secret,' _a voice said in her head. _'Maybe it would be best to keep our communication away from his eyes, Anzu-chan, it's time to duel.'_

The fear was gone, as if wiped away by the cheerful voice inside her head. The blue eyes that looked so familiar calmed her down and she knew that she could and she would defeat this perverted penguin.

* * *

**End Chapter 11**

* * *

_**17/05/2013** -_ I was thinking of making the chapter longer, but I figured that this would be a right palce to finish this one, as there had been loads of flashbacks and things happening. Review and pray that the next chapter will come out sooner, despite being a busy busy busy squirrel, I do have a bit less than two weeks left, while my boyrfriend is away, meaning, I have extra available time to spend some time on my fanfiction.

* * *

**If you liked this story, please review. It is really painful to write decent chapters, all the while skipping over the less than satisfying plot of the duels/duels/duels.**

**So, motivate the author. 10 reviews per chapter is the minimum I demand. Nothing excuses you from not reviewing my stories if you like them. –laughs maniacally and disappears into darkness-**

**Review, please.**

**Cheers**

**Yami Nocturna**


	13. 12: Charred to Black

**5/July/2013 -** Roll up, roll up, here's to the next installment of Infinitas. I actually thought to make this chapter twice as long, but I realized it became TOO long, soooo... :D Good news, the next chapter for this story, is actually almost complete. So enjoy this one. :P

* * *

_**Thanks everyone who reviewed and continued to support this story: BunnyHeartMedicine, Sesshy's Mistress **(I hope this chapter will delight you more :P), **HoshinoKaabii13 **(Oh, there' so muhc more planned for Anzu, next chapter she's one of leads :) ), **Krissy, a1m9a8n8da, Evangeline11 **(you're right, doesn't matter much, it will be in my own way), **rosetrang628 **(Actually thank you very much for bringing that to my attention, becauuse in the past Mana and Anzu have been friend long before Mana even met sSerenity, I amended that part in the prequel, to stick with what I said, but also explain why Mana said both of these things, feel free to reread tyhat chapter in Originis), **wildflower1014, The Queen of Water****  
**_

* * *

_**Names (first name is highlighted):**_  
_**Ryuji**__ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_  
_Jounoochi__** Katsuya **__(Joey Wheeler)_  
_**Shizuka**__ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_  
_**Anzu**__ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_  
_Honda__**Hiroto** (Tristan Taylor)_  
_**Pegasus **__J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_  
_**Cyndia **__Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_  
_**Sugoroku **__Mutou (Solomon Muto)_  
_**Mai **__Kujaku (Mai Valentine)_  
_Sarutawari (Kemo)_  
_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_  
_**Chikuzen** Oka(Johnson – Judge Man)_  
_**Kogoro** Daimon (Lector – Jinzo)_  
_**Shuzo** Otaki (Adrian Randolph Crump III – Nightmare Penguin)_  
_**Konosuke** Oshita (Gansley – Deepsea Warrior)_  
_**Soichiro** Ota (Nesbitt – Robotic Knight)_

* * *

**A.c.h.e.r.o.n: I.n.f.i.n.i.t.a.s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 12**

* * *

The dark hallway stretched forever, and no matter how long Yugi ran, there was no end to it. Maybe that was indeed the case; maybe this was Noah's ingenious plan – to simply exhaust them.

"_It might have an end, but only when Noah wishes so to happen…" _Yami mused out loud, his spirit form effortlessly flying beside Yugi's form.

"Well you certainly take it easy, when you're not the one doing the running?" replied Yugi with a snort, slightly jealous of the bonuses of not having an actual body. Of course, the minuses heavily outweighed having one.

"_Especially not being able to go out on a dates with your woman," _rumbled Yami.

Yugi stopped, as he leaned with his hands against his knees, breathing heavily. He gave Yami a long suspicious glance and then drawled out: "And when exactly did you make Usagi S. Crawford a woman?" Did he actually… do it… in _his _body?

The spirit's reaction was immediate, his face flushed, voice stammering, he choked out_: "I didn't mean it that way? I meant that… that… you know,"_ Yami chuckled nervously, _"She's my lady."_

Yugi burst out laughing, it was quite a rare feat: embarrassing Yami took quite a lot usually, as the calm spirit generally seemed quite unmovable by anything, but _her_. Anything to do with Usagi made the spirit overreact, and in most funny ways, well except those times when he threatened to destroy the world if he didn't get her back. Obsessive much?

_He already destroyed…_

Perhaps his expression revealed what exactly he was thinking of (_Deep Sea Warrior pierces by the spear of Gaia, choking on his own blue blood_) but Yami was immediately on it. Perhaps he needed to remember to shield his thoughts better. _"Yugi, you know very well, I didn't expect that to happen…" _said the spirit.

Neither of them expected that to happen, it was unheard of. But this was a virtual reality and monsters here were just as real as their bodies. (_The spear that was inside Deep Sea Warrior's heart was twisted and the humanoid cried out in pain, blood bursting out of his mouth at the applied pressure._) But, what if they lost. Had they been the ones to loose, what would happen to them? Would they die? Their bodies were still outside, in the Kaiba Land's VR pods, but if they died here, would they die outside, or would they just be taken over easily by one of the Big Five, would only one of them die? The one who was in control?

'_Yugi! Help me!'_

Startled the young duelist straightened. It seemed like…

"_Anzu!"_ breathed out the spirit. _"She's in trouble!" _Yami exclaimed.

And no doubt calling for _him_,the fleeting thought flickered to life in Yugi's mind. Anzu called them both Yugi, but when she was crying out for help, she was calling upon Yami, and not him. But this was not the time to worry about where her heart lay, because she was probably also dueling and they had to warn her… not to lose, under any circumstances.

"_Come on!" _Yugi glanced at Yami: the spirit started already ahead of him, _"we need to save __**your **__girlfriend," _the red-eyed man teased. Yugi sighed, his partner knew that he was _very _interested in Anzu, and always made fun of him and the way he tried to hide it from the girl. He quickly caught up to Yami, struggling to keep up with his breathing, as he kept up with the pace.

And just like always, he would ignore the hurt of rejection, every time he realized that Anzu wasn't calling out to him. For a second the gentle boy wondered whether this was what Anzu felt like, every time the spirit called out to Usagi and only had his eyes on the blonde heiress. But only for a second. (_The Deep Sea Warrior fell down face first into the pond beneath him, and sunk beneath the surface, air from his body coming up in tiny little bubbles, until the lake was just as still, as his lifeless body._) There were more important things to worry about now.

The corridor widened and they came to a hall with three doors, one on the front, and two to the side, each door except for the one in front had a certain amount of stars above them.

Just as Yugi was about to go for the one in front, Yami laid a hand on his shoulder.

"_Aibou, wait… there could be a trap," _the spirit murmured thoughtfully.

"Oh, right…" That was kind of stupid, they were in the enemy's territory, and he almost ran straight into a possible trap without considering the possible consequences. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Perhaps throwing something, his hand came upon his deck, well a card was out of the question. The young duelist rummaged around his pockets, immediately grabbing onto a cool circle surface.

"This coin should do it," he murmured, and threw it at the door. Immediately upon hitting the air in the doorway there was a spark, and electricity struck the coin from all sides. Had it been them… (_charred to black…)_

Someone giggled in the darkness, a female, judging by the voice slightly older than them. "And here I hoped you'd save me the effort of dealing with you." The shadows rippled and shifted and out came a girl, who wore a bit too much resemblance to Usagi.

Yugi felt himself being pushed back into his mind, as the spirit of the Puzzle took over.

"Who are you?" Yami asked, the Eye of Ra blaring to life upon his forehead, as the magic was already there, swirling on his fingertips; he didn't like the _taste _of this woman at all, it was rotten; she looked similar to Usagi, even her magic _tasted _similar to Usagi's, but her essence - it was rotten. It was not unlike that of any of the Big Five, it smelled like rotten meat to him.

"Chill, pharaoh," she said a light smirk gracing her lips, "I just came here to look upon you, after all, the fall of our Kingdom was your fault, just as much as it was that girl's…"

"_Yami, don't fall to the provocation…" _Yugi whispered. He saw Yami tense at her words, which was not surprising at all, since the spirit was very conscious about his own lack of memories. And this woman… everything screamed wrong about her. She was tall, about the height of Seto Kaiba and she had long silver hair, similar to Usagi's hair when she was Sailor Moon, even her hairdo was very similar: twin buns on each side of her head, with ponytails streaming down from them, but the bottom half of her hair was free to fall in large waves to the ground. She and Usagi had the same nose, and even their brow shape and body figure were similar. But the expression this woman wore… it was not to be trusted…

"What do you mean?" Yami asked.

"I mean what I say," said the woman. She smiled and instantly Yugi shivered. It was as if someone left the door open, in a cold-cold winter, the cold just went straight to his bones, even though, technically, he had no bones in his spirit form.

"Who the hell are you?" Yami narrowed his eyes, and for a second the red was covered by pitch-black, as the magic around him crackled.

"I am Heisei," Serenity, that would probably be what this woman meant, and her next words confirmed it, "I am the true Serenity," she said.

"You're not," the spirit hissed.

Heisei scoffed at Yami, "I am the one who was meant to be the queen, but you and that fake queen destroyed the peace and brought ruin to both of our kingdoms," Heisei whispered glaring at him, "You both are demons who should have never walked this planet."

The next second a dark sphere, crackling with the shadow magic was sent hurtling at the silver woman. She flickered in and out of existence, the magic going through her.

"I would advise you to hold you tongue," growled Yami, summoning another one, "Next one you won't be able to dodge."

"You haven't changed even a bit. How much blood will you spill this time?"

"_Blood? Yami what is she talking about?" _Yugi glanced at the spirit, but he was just as confused by her words as he was.

"Nevertheless, shouldn't you run off to save your little friend? After all, she is but one of the many who hasn't awakened yet," Heisei giggled, "after all, if you die here, you die in the real world as well," her eyes glinted darkly.

Yami's fist clenched, she was right, she was absolutely right, Anzu was dueling her opponent and she didn't know what the consequences would be, so far she only knew that she'd have to give up her body.

Heisei's body began disappearing, "We'll see each other again, pharaoh; after all, I'm pretty sure you have questions about your reign, don't you?"

"_Don't trust her, Yami," _murmured Yugi.

Yami grinned revealing all of his teeth, "Next time I see you, I'll rip your throat out if you dare speak about Usagi that way again," his words and face made Yugi feel uneasy and light-headed. How much of what Heisei was saying was true?

Yet the woman didn't even seem to be fazed by his words, "Oh, and one word of advice before I go on running my own little errands, you would do well not to get attached to Serenity," her nasty grin became wider, "after all, you are dead and once you're finished with your destiny, you will have to pass on to the afterlife."

With those words she was gone. And Yami just gazed at the spot where she was impassively.

"_Yami…" _Yugi tried, _"Yami…" _The spirit was still quiet,_ "Yami, you can't believe anything she says," _he whispered.

When his partner finally looked up at him, all the traces of the dark magic that filled him with fury and anger were gone. He was just Yami, a really tired man, who had no place in this world. "Yet, she speaks the truth," Yami whispered, |I have died, but I sealed my soul within this Puzzle to fulfill something in this time." He gave a short laugh. "Can I really pursue Usagi… I'll have to leave one day… and then… I'd be leaving her behind."

* * *

Despite the fact that Dark Magician Girl was here, right next to her, urging her not give up, and stay strong, it was proving rather difficult. When the Giant Red Sea Snake destroyed her Ancient Elf, and did damage to her life, ice began forming itself from her legs till her knees. And it was a terrifying cold; she had never felt anything like that before. Not even when she once got stuck in a snowstorm in Hokkaido, in a small wooden cabin with her parents. And it had been freezing that time: they had no firewood, as they were forced to seek shelter from the sudden weather calamity in an old forgotten cabin, with no trees, only white spreading out for miles around them.

This cold was worse, it seeped into her bones, and her muscles ached from it penetrating her bones. She almost fell ready to collapse.

If it hadn't been for the Dark Magician Girl encouraging her, she probably would have given up. Anzu set down a monster to protect her from a direct attack, and it was penguin man's turn.

He set two cards down, and the beady black eyes looked up at her. "I've expected not much of a fight from you, and you're only proving me right, your deck master is actually quite scary, but only if you would have picked Dark Magician to be at her side as well."

Frozen with fear, Anzu glanced up at Dark Magician Girl, but Mana shook her head. _'Do not reveal your fear to him.' _That was the mental command the blonde-monster sent her.

"Who said that was my strategy?" stuttered out Anzu, her jaw shivering as she struggled to talk, teeth clicking with each word.

The penguin-man cackled in answer, "Because Dark Magician Girl without the Dark Magician is like curry without pickles," he taunted. "Your turn, little girl."

Anzu drew her card.

'_He's right though,' _Anzu thought to Mana, _'I don't have a Dark Magician, and I know you two guys are always connected.'_

Mana patted her shoulder in a reassuring way, giving Anzu a bright smile, _'Don't worry, you have all the cards you need, just last out till Yugi and the pharaoh are somewhere close by, all we need is their connection to you,' _was the reply. _'No matter what, you are still their close friend! I'm sure Mahaad will come to our aid, as soon as their close by.' _The magician girl pointed at a card in her hand. _'Just hold on to this for now.' _The card was the Sage's Stone.

* * *

In the pitch black the only two things lit up were the screen with a view from the Droid camera, that was approaching the pod, where Usagi S. Crawford was held in her sleep, her brain hooked to this world, and the other was the silent Heisei.

Long white ashen hair tumbled round her in waves, as the cobalt-grey orbs were fixated on the droid-view streaming from the real world.

It searched first the neck, but the only thing hanging there was a purple crystal pendant, with a dragonfly inside. Next the robot went through her pockets. Chewing gum. Two matching silver rings. Smartphone. Next was the brooch in her bow. For a moment the woman tensed, waiting for the robot to open it, surely this would be it. Empty. Just a photo of Pegasus J. Crawford and Usagi.

"Where can it be?" growled Heisei, as she stared at the still form of her enemy. The screen beeped. _Search other belongings? _"Yes! Of course."

The camera view moved and the droid moved a bit further, to a pile of clothes. It first went through the bag. Contracts. Books. Shoes. Deck. Laptop. Then it picked up the coat and something fell to the ground with a clang. The camera view shifted and on the ground lay open a heart-shaped winged brooch with a crystal.

"Take the crystal out," ordered Heisei and the clamps of the droid grabbed the crystal and pulled. The shockwave that followed shook the entire virtual reality.

* * *

Sailor Venus and Endymion were just about to approach the place where Jounoochi was dueling one of the Big Five when a shockwave tore through the manor.

Endymion struggled to stand straight in the aftermath of the energy wave passing through him. "This was…"

Sailor Venus helped him up. "This was the power of the Silver Crystal," she confirmed his suspicions. Both having been exposed many times to the devastating power of the Silver Crystal, they could immediately recognize it for what it was.

"Should we go back and check on Sailor Moon?" Endymion asked.

Sailor Venus pursed her lips together. "We can't." She let go and glanced back from where they came. "The portal would be gone by now, and we don't know where Usagi went herself, unless Sailor Mercury helps us, we can't go back."

Endymion straightened. The energy wave had left him slightly breathless, and was slowly letting go. "Then we'll jut have to believe in Sailor Moon," the Prince of Earth said.

Venus gave him a cheeky grin, "Like always."

* * *

When the energy wave reached Makoto, Ryuji and Honda, they were trying to get into the castle, via the wall. The shockwave threw them off the castle walls. Even though her mind was racing a thousand miles per second, because this was the Silver Crystal, why would have Usagi activated it so soon again. But her body already was reacting, because Honda was plummeting to the ground. In mere moments after the shockwave threw the off the wall, Makoto transformed and dashed down to catch Honda before he hit the ground, knowing that Ryuji would be able to fend for himself. Her other companion upon reaching the ground, nimbly landed in a crouch, just as Jupiter floated down next to him.

"This was the power of the Silver Crystal…" she murmured.

Ryuji frowned. "It was not just the power of the Silver Crystal… it was a distress call from it, to alert the guardians that the Queen is in danger." In a flash of dark-violet energy, his general robes and armor formed around him. Sailor Jupiter dropped Honda upon hearing the general's words. Usagi-chan was in danger. They had to find her.

"Otogi, you sure know how to make a girl calm down," grumbled Honda rubbing his back, as he stood up.

"It's alright, Honda-kun," replied Jupiter looking around, as she tried to spread her soldier senses, in order to find anyone, but the virtual reality played with her, and the only thing she could feel was the lingering power of the Silver Crystal weighing heavily all around. "I'd rather know and be worried for Usagi, than be calm and not know anything…"

"Sailor Mercury!" yelled General Ryuu (1), "Can you hear us? We need your help! The Queen is in danger!" There was no reply. He yelled again for help but in the virtual reality, there was only the sound of the nature around them.

"We have to go!" pressed Jupiter. "Let's follow to the origin of the shockwave."

Ryuu sighed. "Well, better than nothing. We have to get into that castle." The Senshi of lightning sighed and waved towards the wall, "Shall we try climbing it again?" But Honda pointed to the left.

"But why don't we try that door…" he paused, "which wasn't there before…" the last part was spoken with not much reassurance.

Trap. It could only be a trap.

* * *

When the energy wave passed through Yami, he and Yugi just came back to the room where they met Heisei and discovered the same coin they had thrown at the door.

"Usagi!" Yami grit his teeth, as the magic licked and ate at him, trying to get his attention.

* * *

As the power of the Silver Crystal rolled through the virtual reality it also reached the real world, forcing the Senshi of Mercury, Uranus and Neptune to resonate with it.

"Usagi! She's in danger!" exclaimed Uranus, as she felt her insignia burning painfully upon her brow.

Mercury sucffled went back to the controls, but it was for naught, the power of the Silver Crystal completely isolated the real world from the virtual reality their friends were in. "Our connection to the VR has been completely cut off, we are not able to contact anyone inside!" she cried out in distress.

Sailor Uranus growled in anger, punching the wall next to her. "Then you must find a way to get back in!"

But that was something Mercury didn't even have to be told. There was though one thing… if the Silver Crystal affected the real world….

It was Sapphire who worded her fears. "If the Silver Crystal reacted in the real world, then something must have happened to Usagi in the real world."

* * *

The transformation came undone without any warning. One second they were immersed in another one of Seto's memories, the one where he started the take-over of Kaiba Corp, then in a flurry of feathers her fuku disappeared, leaving her in the summer dress she was wearing earlier.

Usagi's knees buckled in weakness, as she felt suddenly very light-headed and sleepy. It was as if something had sucked her power dry… Her hand went into her pocket to find the Silver Crystal, but there was nothing there and then darkness took hold of her.

The last thing she heard as Diamond yelling her name, as her mind slipped away and she felt the wind on her cheeks. It would hurt to hit the ground like this.

Somewhere elsewhere Heisei cackled in delight and exited the virtual reality. With the Silver Crystal separate from Usagi, her mind trapped in the virtual reality, the real body of the moon princess would be easily disposed of, since it was captive in the underwater fortress on the east shore of Japan.

* * *

Once she disconnected from Noah's world, Heisei took in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of real air. No matter how much Noah perfected his virtual reality, it would always be lacking. Mainly it was because in his human life, he had only such a short existence, but also because even with Gozaburo's memories inside of the virtual reality, the two humans could never reproduce the wonder of a living and breathing planet.

In their vast universe, planets that could provide life were after all really rare. And soon this planet would belong to her. Once she took down the moon princess, the rest would be quick to follow, without the light of the Silver Crystal.

The silver woman stretched to relieve the muscle ache she got from laying in her bed, while her mind was in Noah's world, but plans demanded sacrifice; and now she had finally succeeded, the moon bitch was defenseless. She would just slit her throat with the sword and take the Silver Crystal. And if she combined the power of the Silver Crystal with the Saffer Crystal, she would be the most powerful woman in the universe.

Heisei grabbed the orange-red brooch from the nightstand beside her bed, and in a flash of gold she was gone from her underground home. She appeared high above the sea; somewhere beneath the waters of this ocean was Noah's underwater fortress. Seto Kaiba and Usagi Tsukino were there, or their bodies were, to be precise.

The lunarian woman plummeted into the water, the dress she wore and her hair dragging behind her, as she descended down and down. She could already feel the fortress and the Silver Crystal. Now that she had pinpointed its location, she could easily teleport.

Calling upon her powers, she tried just as usual to will her body into the new location, but a painful magical shock ricocheted back at her, from the point where she wanted to go.

"What the hell?" muttered Heisei, her words rising as bubbles from her mouth. Well if she couldn't teleport in, she'd just walk inside. There would be an emergency exit somewhere.

The Saffer Crystal in her hand lit up the dark depths of the ocean, as she continued her descent: and then she saw the fortress. No… not the fortress. That was some strange form of quartz.

"Shit!" The woman cursed in anger. She didn't expect this to happen. She of course heard about this, in times of danger, the Silver Crystal would encase itself and it's owner in an impenetrable crystal shield, so that no one from the outside would be able to harm it or the owner.

Why did she even bother leaving the VR, could have just offed the moon bitch in there, not as if she'd be able to protect herself from her anymore. With that thought in mind, Heisei teleported back to her hideout.

* * *

It didn't take Yugi and Yami long to figure out the way to get through the maze. They only had to follow the ascending order of the stars, destroying the duel monsters lurking behind the doorways.

Eventually they came to a room of ice, and Anzu was just right there behind the sheet of ice, covered to her waist in ice, Dark Magician Girl floating beside her. The brunette looked terrifyingly pale and ready to collapse.

"_Yami! We need to get through this!"_ Yugi said in despair, as he tried to go through the wall, but the ice even seemed to hold back his spirit form.

Yami didn't reply, only summoned the Curse of Dragon and ordered the dragon to melt down the wall. But nothing happened. The burning heat, which Yugi could feel even in his spirit form, did little to the ice, as what liquefied only became ice once more the moment it dribbled down.

Anzu cried out in pain, as another attack went straight at her, and the ice rose to her armpits.

"_It's not fair!" _Yugi cried out, beating against the ice, as the Curse of Dragon dissipated, having been summoned back to the deck. _"We're right here, and can't do anything!" _he yelled.

"Aibou…" whispered Yami.

It was then that Dark Magician Girl looked back, and saw them. She poked Anzu, the brunette twisted her head back to look at them, relief washing over her face. Anzu nodded to the Dark Magician Girl and picked a card from her hand. The moment the card was on her field, their deck began to glow and from it Dark Magician was summoned.

The magician gave a bow to Yugi and Yami and flew unhindered through the ice wall to Anzu. In her final command, Anzu summoned Dark Magician Girl to the field, and together they destroyed the looming Defender Iceberg, wiping Nightmare Penguin's points as well, the combined power of the two magicians burning through the penguin body, and the resulting shockwave annihilating the ice wall separating them from Anzu.

Immediately Yugi pushed Yami out of control and ran towards Anzu, who was standing with her back turned to him, the ice having disappeared from around her, now the girl swayed in the cold air.

What came next, Yugi did not expect. Fairy wings burst from Anzu's back, encircling her and forming a pink maxi-dress with yellow trimming, a pink headdress set upon her head and a long golden staff topped by the Ankh appeared in her hand.

He stopped in his tracks, as she turned around, her blue eyes much more vivid than usual, her skin much more golden.

"Yugi," she murmured, a sweet smile upon her lips, "You came." Anzu took a step towards him. "I knew you would," she whispered, and with the next step her knees buckled beneath her, as the boy ran forwards to break her fall. He managed just in time.

Clutching his childhood crush close to him, he whispered that everything was all right now, as Yami silently stood by watching the two, a lingering smile upon his lips.

* * *

Jounoochi faced his opponent silently. He had appeared to him as Shizuka in her hospital room, almost making him think that he managed to get out of the virtual reality, but such was not the case, as it was only deceit, which was easily seen through, when Shizuka opened her eyes, which couldn't have been possible: his sister was still waiting for her operation due to in another couple weeks.

"So what's your deal?" Jounoochi asked.

The man adjusted his glasses with a smirk, "I was the Kaiba Corporation lawyer, Ooka is the name, I can turn wrong into right. No matter what the charge, I was paid for bringing in a verdict of 'not guilty'." The man said it with ease that was unnerving.

"A lawyer's job should be to tell the truth," the blonde youth bit back.

Ooka laughed. "What is truth?"

Jounoochi blinked in confusion. "Truth is the real facts," he replied.

"My apologies," quickly said Ooka, "I asked such a hard question. The thing is, truth is whatever my clients say it is."

That bastard, went the thought quickly through Jounoochi's mind. "Then you're nothing but a lying lawyer!" he exploded.

"I'll take is as a compliment," countered Ooka. There was just no winning with this man. Unless, he won in one way he knew…

"Are we going to duel, or what?"

Ooka smirked. "I thought you were never going to ask. I'll win your body, after all, it is far too easy to realize what deck you have chosen, eh, Katsuya Jounoochi?" His words made the young duelist fidget. "I am right, aren't i?" laughed Ooka, "It's a gamble deck."

"Shut up!" Jounoochi drew a card from his deck, "Flame Swordsman! I summon you to be my Deck Master!" As his favored monster appeared behind him, Jounoochi asked, "What's your special ability?" And not even for a second did Jounoochi find it weird, that the Flame Swordsman replied, explaining that he could give up his own attack points to power up Jounoochi's monsters.

Ooka smiled, and the room around them shifted from a hospital room into a courtroom, and the lawyer's form grew and became that of the Judge Man.

"Shall we start?" The ever-annoying smirk was now a grin on the Judge Man's tusked mouth. And Jounoochi swore he'd wipe it off.

Ooka began the duel by summoning the Hysteric Fairy. Next on Jounoochi's turn, the duelist summoned Gearfried,; activating Flame Swordsman's effect, he took 500 attack points from Flame Swordsman to increase Gearfried's attack to 2300. Ordering an attack on the Hysteric Fairy, there was little chance for the lawyer's monster against Gearfried who had 2300 attack points.

"So brash, you don't think you're using your Deck Master's ability so early in the game?" Ooka inquired, "Nevertheless, one monster in defense and end my turn."

Jounoochi scoffed at the Judge Man, who was this lawyer to judge him, he could bet this man never played even one Duel Monsters game.

Next was the Little Wing Guard, and once again using the Flame Swordsman ability, he increased his monsters attack to 1700.

"Little Wing Guard! Attack face-down card!" he ordered, and Skelengel was sent to the graveyard, but not before allowing Ooka to draw a card. And now he was clear to attack directly. "Gearfried! Direct attack!"

With a slash of the monster's mighty sword, Ooka's life points went immediately down to 1200 from 4000, leaving Jounoochi pretty pleased with himself.

On the next turn, Ooka played the Mystical Elf in defense and one card face down, earning just more of Jounoochi's amusement. This man had definitely never played before.

Of course, he didn't know, that all this time Ooka was gloating about having successfully been able to fool him.

'Enjoy yourself while you can,' thought Ooka, 'soon you'll have the verdict of a lifetime sentence in the virtual graveyard.'

* * *

Yugi and Anzu were trudging slowly along the ice in the freezing cold. After another sneeze from Anzu, Yugi took off his coat, and put it on Anzu's shoulders. For a moment the girl blushed, "You're a lifesaver, Yugi," she murmured. Absent-mindedly Yugi nodded to her in acknowledgement.

Anzu remembered nothing about her transformation. And while he tried asking more, she would just blank out at his questions. She could recall the duel perfectly, but anything after it, was a complete blank, and to top it all, it was as if all his questions about it were being ignored.

Yami had suggested it was some kind of memory block, since she had not fully yet awakened. And deep inside Yugi wished that she would never have to, in the memories he saw of Usagi and her friends, their duty was very dangerous. He wouldn't be able to bare the thought of Anzu going out into a rain of daggers, lightning, fire, magic, swords, claws, when he wouldn't be even able to protect her in any way.

"_If anything, aibou, I'll be able to protect her in your stead," _said Yami.

But that exactly was the problem. He wanted to be able to protect her himself. It felt already horrible enough, when he had loved her from afar for so long, but she still pined only after Yami.

"I'm worried," said Anzu.

"Huh?"

The brunette stood some feet before him wearing a distressed expression, "Will the others be alright? They don't know that if they die here…" she trailed off, her eyes brimming with tears. The first thing he had to do, when she had woken up, was calm her, because she started having an anxiety attack. But he guessed, if you see something as vicious as a live being, even when it was a Duel Monster, burning up in a blast of magical energy, you'd be really shaken…

Anzu cracked a weak smile, "And you know, Honda has no talent for dueling whatsoever," she tried making a joke. But the problem was, that she was absolutely correct.

* * *

Jounoochi observed the facedown card behind the monster card. Of course if he could, he would get rid of it; that is, if he'd draw something useful. He drew a card, Rocket Warrior. Not exactly helpful in getting rid of the possible trap. But he was so close, and it could just be a bluff.

"Never mind then, I summon Rocket Warrior!" he placed his drawn card on the field. "Attack phase! Gearfried! Attack Mystical Elf!"

As his monster charged at the opponent's defense monster, Ooka declared, "Activate Judge Man's special ability!"

"Shit, I forgot about that," cursed Jounoochi. If he knew anything, that nasty grin didn't promise anything good to him. Ooka's life points went down to 200. Definitely nothing good, if Ooka felt justified in spending his life points this way.

"Now, say good bye to your monsters," hissed the Judge Man and one by on, Jounoochi's three monsters were sent into the graveyard leaving him open to attack. And as Jounoochi howled in anger at himself, for stupidity, "Oh, and not only that, you loose 500 points for each monster on the field."

Immediately pain shot through the blond's chest, as he fell to one knee as a total of 1500 life points were taken away from him.

Before he ended his turn, he had to cover the bases. Bottomless Trap Hole. That would destroy any monster with 1500 or more attack points, after all, it's not as if Ooka would keep the Mystical Elf. He'd sacrifice it to summon a stronger monster. Placing the card facedown, Jounoochi ended his turn. Just as the door on one side of the courtroom was smashed open.

Behind it stood a blonde bombshell of a Sailor Senshi he briefly saw at the Duelist Kingdom, followed by a black-haired guy in armor.

From the door opposite of, what was it, Sailor … Sailor… or whatever Sailor, second after the grand entrance of the Sailor Senshi, entered Yugi and Anzu.

"Yugi! Anzu!" Jounoochi exclaimed in happiness. He already felt energized and more confident, even though he had just lost three monsters due to carelessness.

"And the Sailor Senshi just as always get no greeting," said the blonde Sailor Senshi with a sigh.

"Mi-chan," spoke the man beside her.

"Oh come on, the only reason he didn't yell my name was probably because he couldn't remember I'm the soldier of love, Sailor Venus" she spoke placing one hand on her hip the other gesturing at herself, as she sighed exasperatingly, "We fight to protect them from monsters and demons, and this is what we get in return."

"Mi-chan," repeated the man behind her, sweat-dropping, "Now is really not the time…"

But he was cut off, as the blonde Senshi whirled around.

"Now is just as good time as any other time," she said, poking his chest.

"ORDER!" came the yell from Ooka, as everyone froze. "Sit down, or I'll eject you from the courtroom," the Judge Man growled.

The blonde Senshi narrowed her eyes at him, "Oh really?" she murmured, "I'd like to see you try."

The Judge Man slammed his gavel onto the table, and the next moment, Sailor Venus was lifted by some invisible forces and thrown out of the doors at the far end, the heavy doors closing behind her.

"Mi-chan!" yelled the man in distress,

Yet the Judge Man slammed his gavel down again, startling everyone, "Sit down now, or everyone will be ejected!"

From the black-haired man's expression it was obvious this was not over, but he still followed Yugi's and Anzu's lead to sit down behind the duel. A few whispers were passed between the three, and it was game on again.

And Jounoochi had no monsters at all.

Ooka quickly summoned the Curtain of the Dark Ones, then activating his-face-down card to fuse the summoned monster and the Mystical Elf, Jounoochi almost rejoiced, he would get rid of the fused monster easily. Right?

Wrong. The fused monster, Camion Wizard had only 1300 attack points. Next the lawyer played Sinister Justice, to allow him to attack the same turn, and with that single turn Jounoochi lost another 1300 points, bringing him down to 1200.

"Shit, Jounoochi, you need to destroy Sinister Justice soon!" yelled Yugi suddenly. The Judge Man slammed his gavel down, but this time, he didn't threaten to kcik anyone out. Only laughed, "The little one is right," Ooka said, "Every time I attack with Camion wizard I will gain 800 life points."

_Ooka: 1000LP_

_Jounoochi: 1200LP_

"Now, Jounoochi Katsuya, shall you continue this pointless fight?" He placed another card face down. "I have already sealed your doom, after all."

"I will get back at you," exclaimed Jounoochi. How dare this man make fun of him? He turned stakes around many times before. And he would do so again! After all Lady Luck was on his side, he knew that.

"I'm sorry, but you are guilty of poor dueling," replied Ooka.

Jounoochi drew a card. Swordsman of Landstar. He would be able to beat Camion Wizard if he powered this one up with the Flame Swordsman, but that facedown card. He wouldn't fall for this twice. It would have to be the other one instead.

"Panther Warrior! Come forth!" The feline warrior roared in anger as it appeared on the field, facing it's opponent. Jounoochi grimaced, a direct attack was not the best strategy, but he'd just have to wait this turn. Placing another facedown card, he ended his turn.

He just had to believe in his Lady Luck.

* * *

Two hours had passed since Usagi collapsed. Two hours since she had made any indication of waking up. Seto, Mokuba and Diamond were continuing on their way literally to nowhere, as they were walking through mists that were separated every now and then by memories. So far, they had kept each other just silent company with Seto giving Diamond every now and then suspicious glances, while trying to pretend that nothing really bothered him.

"I was wondering." Mokuba was the first to break the silence. "Why is it you guys with the strange powers?"

Seto opened his mouth, but then closed it, shaking his head, continuing striding forward in silence.

"It is destiny… all of us are gravitated towards people from our past," replied Diamond.

"Did you meet each other as children?" Mokuba slowed down his pace, so he would walk next to Diamond, who was currently carrying Usagi on her back.

"No… we did not, we met in another life," replied the white-haired man. No matter what lifetime, he would always meet them. He knew as much. Even if they were never to awaken in a certain life, he was sure they paths would lead them to each other. He still was waiting to meet a certain person from his past, but… the person he last remembered, would not be the person who remembered him as he was now.

What would she say to him?

Mokuba looked up at him, confused. "Another lifetime?"

"Rebirth. It is promised to most people. But more often than not, it is the sign of unbreakable bonds of destiny on us." Diamond's words hung heavily in the air, as Mokuba looked upon him with pity.

"Bullshit!" snorted Seto, the CEO of Kaiba Corp stopped and was looking intensely at him, "You write your own destiny," he said.

But Diamond smirked at him, "Yet even if you say so," he walked up to Seto, "then why have you met Yami and Usagi again?"

That left Seto stuttering in anger and disbelief, and Mokuba yelling, "Whaaaaaa! Older brother, you didn't tell me you had a past life as well!"

"I _did_ **not** have a past life!" exclaimed Seto, as he whirled around and stomped off, eager to get away from the white-haired man.

* * *

Sailor Venus huffed in frustration as she crawled through the vents. No matter how hard she pummeled on the door it wouldn't budge, no matter how many attacks she threw at it, it wouldn't even have a dent or a scorch mark. So, if there were no straight ways into the courtroom, she would just have to be sneaky about it.

Another cobweb got stuck to her face, and the blonde Senshi growled in anger, getting the sticky strands out of her face. "Disgusting," she whined, and continued crawling. If her calculations were correct, she glanced down at her watch, where she had a mini-computer out from her Sailor V days, the door to the outside of the vent would be right…

…beneath her…

The door to the vent opened and Sailor Venus landed in a heap on top of Yugi, Anzu and Endymion.

"You again!" growled the Judge Man, bringing his gavel up. Immediately she put her hands up, crawling off from Yugi, Anzu and Endymion, "I'll behave!" she quickly promised, hoping that all her effort in crawling through the dusty dirty air vents would not be for naught. The Judge Man sent her a glare and Venus quickly sat down between Yugi and Endymion.

"How is he faring?" she asked. But even without their reply, she knew it was not good at all.

"I don't know, but every time he gambles, at first it seems he would get the best result, but then, he gets the worst possible one," hissed Yugi. At the moment Jounoochi had 600 life points, no monsters on the field and two facedown cards.

The Judge Man drew the Pot of Greed playing it immediately.

"Activate trap card Gamble!" exclaimed Jounoochi, as soon as his opponent had the cards in his hands.

"It's a risky move," whispered Sailor Venus worriedly.

Anzu glanced over. "What does it do?"

"Jounoochi has to flip a coin, if he calls it right, he can draw five cards, if wrong, he has to skip next turn," replied Yugi, as he watched Jounoochi.

Well, if Jounoochi had bad luck twice already, he had to get lucky now. In theory, he couldn't constantly loose his bets; from the little that Venus knew in math she understood that.

Jounoochi flipped the coin and called heads.

Tails.

But there was something strange going on. Venus kept her eyes on the coin, and perhaps if Yugi and Anzu or Jounoochi wouldn't be able to tell, she could. Jounoochi had definitely flipped heads. The mini-computer on her hand confirmed it as well.

She gave Endymion a quick glance. He was just as focused on the coin as she was. "You noticed it too? Didn't you?" she whispered quietly, careful so that Yugi and Anzu wouldn't overhear them.

"I did. I think that guy is cheating," murmured Endymion.

Venus nodded in agreement. "He can control this room, so no wonder he can control the outcome as well."

"But what can we do about it? If we interfere, we'd probably get thrown both thrown out the room this time." And Endymion was right. Even if they were to interfere, there would be no way they could stop this. The only one who would be able to stop this… was…

"I know! It's a stupid idea… but… Usagi said that Noah kid watches everyone," she whispered.

"Then he would have seen this already," hissed Endymion back. Sailor Venus shook her head. No, she definitely had a hunch of this. With so many people to observe, Noah probably hadn't noticed this duel yet. He just needed some encouragement.

"NOAH!" Her yell was loud and clear, as Yugi and Anzu startled moved back away from her, as the Sailor Senshi of Venus climbed up on the seat, waving her hands around, and staring around.

"IS THIS THE WAY YOU ALLOW THOSE GUYS TO DUEL! CHEATING IS NOT COOL!" Sailor Venus continued yelling on top of her lungs.

"Cheating?!" exclaimed Jounoochi in horror.

"You little brat!" growled the Judge Man, as he slammed his gavel down, and the next second all the air was squeezed out of Venus's lungs, as she started choking in pain.

"Mi-chan!" Endymion was up in a second, drawing his sword and dashing towards the Judge Man, but with another slam of the gavel, the Prince of Earth was flown into the wall and kept there by an invisible force, as if crucified, the sword falling out of his hands.

The Judge Man gave a short laugh as everyone stared at him in horror.

"Didn't I tell you, Jounoochi Katsuya?" he whispered, "The truth is whatever you make it. Well then, shall we continue the game?"

"Stop!"

The Judge Man froze, turning around. In the corner of the courtroom stood a turquoise haired boy, with his hands in the pockets, looking positively livid. Inwardly Venus cheered, and almost did a victory dance, if she wasn't so busy keeping herself conscious. This had to be Noah. And sure enough, as he gave an all around glance to everyone, the choking hold on her disappeared and she slid down back into her seat, gasping for the amazing fresh good air. Endymion was also released, as quickly collecting he was at her side, checking for any damage.

"Noah-sama!" exclaimed the Judge Man, "I am only a few moves away from taking this fool's body!"

The cold blue eyes zeroed in on Ooka, and then the man in the monster's body began clawing at his face in pain. "You do not deserve that prize, you've been cheating," the boy hissed.

"This isn't the Olympics," screamed the Judge Man, Noah sneered, and flicked his hand, and whatever was afflicting the Judge Man let go, as he stumbled back.

* * *

Diamond, Seto and Mokuba watched the duel that was happening at that very moment through a TV, which had conveniently appeared along their way, broadcasting Jounoochi's duel.

"_I am bored with your excuses, Ooka," said Noah, "I brought you here to defeat Seto Kaiba and his friends, but we cannot surpass Kaiba by cheating, and I definitely cannot prove that I am more deserving."_

"Well, with each thing he says, it seems as if he _is _the real son of Gozaburo," murmured Diamond. Diamond's words were upsetting, because it had occurred to Seto, that Usagi had no legit reasons for lying to him about meeting Gozaburo's son, before he even was adopted, and this whole fiasco would make perfect sense.

"Gozaburo didn't have a son!" bit back Seto scathingly. But still, it made no sense whatsoever to him. Why did he never know about Noah? Surely he would have found at least a trace of him, but nowhere, ever anything came up that would have hinted at Noah Kaiba's existence.

Diamond frowned. "Or, he didn't have a son, when you met him." He glanced at Seto, "Did you consider that?" Unless Gozaburo had wiped all mentions and references to Noah. But what had happened to Noah for Gozaburo to adopt him and his brother?

"_For years I lived in Seto's shadow, even though at first it was Seto who had to prove that he was the worthy one. But now, I shall show to Gozaburo and to the world, that the company was always meant to be mine."_

* * *

Having managed to blast the doors open with a few energy attacks Ryuu, Sailor Jupiter and Honda arrived into what it seemed like a hanger.

"No one," breathed out Sailor Jupiter in relief, as she quickly scanned the area for enemies. They seemed to be alone. "Let's go," she beckoned the boys to follow her. The next second she heard Ryuu yelling,

"Look out!"

Her senses were on high alert, as she felt a very familiar element fast approaching her from above. Jupiter held out her hand and caught the lightning bolt and threw it to the side. The lightning blast left a deep dent in the hanger wall.

"This will not do at all, will it now," said a voice from above, from where the lightning bolt has been sent. A huge black and red robot descended down, to stand in front of Sailor Jupiter.

Her emerald eyes narrowed in distaste as she observed the robotic creature, but a smirk made its way to her lips, "Really? Perhaps you would like a taste of this," it was after all, just a piece of machinery, her lightning would fry the circuits easily. "Jupiter!" she whispered, "Oak Evolution!" Her hands glowed in green as she released the charged energy leaves, but it only bounced off the red-black armor.

The robot raised its hand to strike her, and the Senshi flipped backwards, to avoid the hit and landed next to Honda and Ryuu.

"Like I said," repeated the robot, "this will not do at all. Noah-sama has already analyzed your powers and made sure you cannot use them against us," he said.

"Who the hell are you anyway?" exclaimed Honda lunging forwards, barely restrained by Jupiter and Ryuu.

The robot gave them a mock bow. "Let me introduce myself, I am Ota Soichiro, I was the technological lead in the old Kaiba Corp, yet after I helped Seto to take over the power, I was made a mere consultant."

Ryuu frowned, "When you say the old Kaiba Corp, you mean the military company don't you?"

The robot nodded in reply. "Indeed. Once the Kaiba Corp was restructured by Seto, he ordered me to destroy my laboratory and build the Duel Tower instead," the mechanical voice was dripping with distaste and fury.

The Senshi of Lightning snorted, "Well good riddance, the world doesn't need any more weapons."

"It doesn't? And how should the world deal with the likes of you?" Came the question. "You are humans that have powers beyond regular citizens. How are we supposed to fight against you?" The accusation hurt. They had always fought for the good of the humanity, and its continuous survival.

"Will you shut up?" interrupted Ryuu angrily. "We weren't even around when you were building your machines of destruction. You sold weapons to both sides, Gozaburo Kaiba alone caused more destruction and pain than some of our enemies, who were bent to destroy all life."

The robot made a dismissing motion with his hand. "Never mind. I believe you were on your way to find your friend, Usagi Crawford?"

Sailor Jupiter smirked, "And I guess you want us to go through you first?" She clenched her first, "No problem with that."

"Mako, wait," whispered Ryuu hurriedly.

"What is it?" Jupiter glanced back.

"He wants a duel." The brunette frowned. Duel Monsters were not her forte at all.

"Indeed, so who shall be my opponent?" The glowing red scanners that were the eyes of the robot went over the trio, "Shall it be the one who came in first?" The red lights focused on Sailor Jupiter.

"Makoto Kino, daughter of the deceased world-class chefs. Friend to Usagi Crawford, who studied in the same English boarding school as you. You are currently under the guardianship of your grandmother who doesn't know you are a Sailor Senshi. A group of powerful females that appeared for the first time during the Duelist Kingdom. You have no experience in Duel Monsters whatsoever, or any strategic games, as your forte would be physical activities."

"Wait! Let me be your opponent!" interrupted Honda, "It's low challenging a girl who has never played the game before!" And while Jupiter certainly appreciated the sentiment, she wasn't quite sure Honda was good enough to duel this guy either.

"Idiot!" growled Ryuu, stepping forward, "I shall be your opponent!" He glared at Honda, "This is not the time to play cool in front of a girl!" he whispered heatedly to the brunet youth.

"Covering for each other?" The robot extended his hand, letting the Duel Disk form upon it, "No matter which of you fight me, you will not beat me," he said. His words hit a sore spot, she was not helpless, and she wouldn't loose, and lightning crackling around her, Sailor Jupiter shouted:

"Jupiter! Thunder Dragon!" Electricity danced around her, as the blinding white-hot dragon crackling with energy formed above her and charged at Soichiro. Yet just like it had previously happened the dragon hit the mark and then was deflected. The attacked slammed through the right side of the hanger, leaving a scorched hole.

"Useless, didn't I tell you?" Soichiro laughed. "But I am feeling generous today, how about this, let's playa a three to one fight. After all, I need all three of your bodies."

Honda and Ryuu shared a glance. "All three? Does that mean…"

"The others won their fights," said Jupiter. That thought alone left her feeling energized. If the others could do it then so could she. Besides, Honda said he was quite good at Duel Monsters, better than Jounoochi, who got into the Duelist Kingdom finals, and Ryuu would definitely be a great asset, having been the strategist of the Silver Millennium. She wouldn't be a disappointment.

"Alright! Let's do out best," she said with conviction.

"No! Mako, you can't fight!" begged Ryuu, his voice strained with worry.

"Ryuu, just like you are a Dragon General of the Silver Millennium and you have to fight for Usagi's sake, so am I am Sailor Senshi, and I have my duties too!"

Before Ryuu or Honda could argue against her participation again, robot-Soichiro raised his hand and Duel Disks appeared on all of them.

"This is getting too long, let us duel. My Deck Master is the form I am wearing, the Robotic Knight in service of the Machine King." And as cards appeared in front of them, scrolling past, Jupiter had to remember all of the rules Mercury tried to explain to her, as she picked them up, hoping she'd do well.

After a few minutes, having picked up cards she thought were good, she picked her deck master, Goddess with the Third Eye, Ryuu picked Strike Ninja, and Honda picked the Super Roboyaru.

"Looks like you're ready," the robot grinned, and the floor in front of them opened up, revealing burning lava in front. "Let's start the duel! Ladies first, of course."

_Soichiro: 4000_

_Jupiter: 4000_

_Honda: 4000_

_Ryuu: 4000_

Sailor Jupiter drew her card, looking at it. It looked useful and dangerous, the girl in the picture wielding a whip. It would be able to reach far and attack enemies swiftly.

"I summon Shadow Tamer in attack mode!" the green-eyed girl declared, but as soon as she did, she knew she had done wrong.

"Mako!" yelled Ryuu, "It's too weak to play in attack!"

Shit! Shit! Shit! What do I do now? "Oh no! I messed up!"

"Don't worry, Makoto-chan, I'll figure something out," quickly offered Honda, but from the look Ryuu was giving him, Jupiter doubted that.

Next was Honda's turn. "Cyber Commander in attack mode!"

After him went Ryuu. "13th Grave in defense!"

And it was Robotic Knight's turn next. "I summon the Giga-Tech Wolf!" From the card he set upon the field, a large mechanic wolf with a main and bat wings appeared, it's jaws snapping menacingly. "Attack the Shadow Tamer!" And the wolf lunged forwards. The blue-haired tamer was no match for the machine beast, and screamed in pain as its fangs sunk deep into her shoulder, disappearing in a blast that hit Sailor Jupiter hard. The force of the energy struck her down, sending her hurtling backwards, as she landed on the floor hard, skidding backwards. Darkness threatened to encompass her. This was not something she expected. Were all duels this unsafe?

"Makoto-chan!" Was it Honda yelling or Ryuu? She couldn't tell, not with the throbbing in her head. She heard an argument erupt between Honda and Soichiro, over him helping her. No, she was all right. This was nothing. She had been hit worse. And having your starseed ripped out of you hurt infinite times more.

_Soichiro: 4000_

_Jupiter: 3600_

_Honda: 4000_

_Ryuu: 4000_

"I'm okay, Honda-kun, Ryuu-kun," she murmured, struggling to her feet. The pain, it was the same as in the real world, when being hit by a demon.

"My turn is not over yet though! Activate Deck Master ability. Final Artillery! For each machine monster I discard from my hand I am able to inflict 500 damage points on one of your," the Robotic Knight sent a few cards into the graveyard, and three monsters appeared in front of him. They started glowing with energy, and then transformed into energy beams that pierced each one.

_Soichiro: 4000_

_Jupiter: 3100_

_Honda: 3500_

_Ryuu: 3500_

This was even worse than the previous one. Sailor Jupiter collapsed to her knees, huffing a she struggled to maintain her composure. This shouldn't have hurt that much. Maybe it was something that Noah had done. Maybe their planter powers were weakened. And this pain had been what? Only 500 points of damage. She had seen Usagi inflict over 2000 points of damage at a time, how would that hurt?

As she slowly managed to control her breathing, Soichiro set a facedown card and ended his turn. It was her turn again. This time, she'd try to remember the knowledge Mercury tried to implant within her mind, but all of the rules and hints were muddled up within her brain and she didn't even know where to begin.

Forgiving Maiden. This one had a high defense. She would play that and protect her from an attack. "I summon the Forgiving Maiden in Defense!" Up on the field appeared a woman dressed in a nun-outfit, her hands clasped together as if in prayer. The figure of the monster was fairly familiar, but for some reason it seemed wrong all together. For some reason what Sailor Jupiter saw, instead of the Catholic nun, was a girl in a similar garb, but instead of the Christian symbolism, she had Egyptian ankhs and her outfit was pink and gold.

"Mako-chan! If you want it in defense, you had to put it sideway!" Ryuu yelled. And again Makoto cursed. A perfectly good card was wasted. She had nothing else to add, and she couldn't do anything else. She just had to hope Honda and Ryuu would be able to cover her back.

As Honda's turn came, he declared the magic card Block Attack, "Shift Forgiving Maiden into defense!"

"Not so fast!" interrupted the Robotic Knight, "Activate trap-card, Riryoku Field!" From the card he flipped open, a force field bubble emerged, to engulf Honda's card and destroy it.

At Ryuu's turn, the general summoned Yaranzo and set one card facedown. Now it was their enemies turn and Jupiter prepared for the worst. And the worst did come indeed, as Soichiro sacrificed his Giga-Tech World to summon the Machine King, which received for each machine monster on the field, including itself, an extra hundred attack points, raising it's attack to 2400.

"Well, well, well," the red eyes scanned them, "Who should I attack?" The eyes stopped at the Senshi of Lightning, who immediately tensed, this attack would hurt a lot more, "I think I'll attack the girl again," his chuckles echoed through the emptied hangar, "Eliminate the weak link first…"

The Machine King raised its hands, and from one of them the arm detached, as it flew powered by a rocket towards the praying nun on the field. Jupiter closed her eyes, preparing herself for the pain.

But it never came. Instead she heard Honda shout out in pain, and as she opened her eyes, she saw the remnants of the Cyber Commander disappearing, and Honda crumbling to the ground.

"Idiot!" cursed Ryuu, "I could have taken that hit without taking damage!"

Honda grinned aloofly, "Should have told me sooner." His legs were shaking, from the 1650 point hit.

_Soichiro: 4000_

_Jupiter: 3100_

_Honda: 1850_

_Ryuu: 3500_

But Soichiro wasn't done with them yet. "Activate face-down card, Card of Sanctity, shall we draw till we all have six cards?" Nervously the trio drew their cards. And as soon as they were done, Soichiro discarded three cards again.

"Final Artillery! Activate!" Three more machine monsters appeared briefly on the field firing their attacks at them, the beams of energy piercing them, as they all fell down twitching in agony. This time, Jupiter could even smell burnt flesh from where the attack had hit them.

_Soichiro: 4000_

_Jupiter: 2600_

_Honda: 1350_

_Ryuu: 3000_

"Facedown card, and end turn."

* * *

With each passing moment of Noah giving Ooka a beat down, Jounoochi's mood rose exponentially. His Goddess Luck hadn't forsaken him after all. He still had it in him.

"Noah! I want to continue the duel!" he exclaimed, ignoring the flabbergasted expressions of his friends, as they started to protest and call him an idiot. Sure, there was always cheating in gambling, but he still could win it.

Noah glared at him for a moment, but then he shrugged, "You're an idiot, Jounoochi Katsuya," he said and disappeared in a sparkle of light. It was finally his turn and he would show everyone that he _could _turn this around.

"If your body gets taken over, I'm cutting your head off with Endy's sword!" shouted Venus. Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you had it, he couldn't loose at all. His body's attachment to its head depended on him. And he liked to be whole and not chopped into tiny meat pieces.

"Plus, if you loose, you will actually die here as well."

And that made everything worse. But, his Goddess of Luck was still here and she would save him! He drew a card, Pot of Greed. Activating it, he drew two more cards. Perfect.

"Flame Swordsman, to the field!" he said, and his severely underpowered Deck Master moved the field. "Equip Burning Soul!" Of course the Burning Soul wouldn't work, he thought, as he heard Anzu yell in anger at his stupid moves, they didn't know about this last card. He was betting his life and body on this.

"I play Arduous Decision!" Drawing two cards from his deck he grinned at Ooka. It was everything or nothing. He had one monster card and one magic card.

And with Noah watching, there would be no more cheating.

"Come on!" he yelled, "Decide!" He was feeling quite spunky, so maybe make the man waver a bit more, "One of them is a magic card, Sword and Shield, the other one is Goblin Attack Force!"

"Argh! Come on, you bastard! Pick one!" yelled Sailor Venus, "The suspense is killing me!"

"Fine, left hand!" declared Ooka finally. It was the magic card. But Jounoochi just smirked.

"Are you sure?"

Ooka snorted. "It's an old trick, I won't be fooled!" But in the way he vehemently denied falling for it, Jou already saw. He fell for it.

"Are you sure?"

"I spent year convincing people that lies were truth, a youngster like you can't outwit me," he said.

Jounoochi shrugged. "Very well."

But just as he was about to reveal Sword and Shield, Ooka panicked. Just like he expected him to.

"Right! Right!"

"As you wish!" Jounoochi yelled, slamming the card onto his duel disk, and then sacrificing it, to add to the Flame Swordsman's attack. Golden power encircled his Monster and with a yell the swordsman charged, cutting through Dragoness the Wicked Knight easily, the fire from the strike flying towards the Judge Man and encircling him in storm of fire.

"This never happened before," was all Jounoochi could say, when the fire died out, as his monster disappeared and the charred to black, distinctly smelling of burnt bacon body collapsed onto the judge's table. Anzu bit back a scream of terror, as something oozed out of the body.

"_Come in! Come in!" _That was Sailor Mercury, her voice surrounded by static; she was frantically saying something, as Jounoochi stared at the body.

"What? Honda! No!"

What was that ooze? Were those melted eyeballs drooping out of it's skull. And that little bit of white peeking out from beneath the charred to black skin. That had to be the skull. Was it just like this? Dead? Was this what would have happened to him should he have lost the duel?

"Jounoochi!"

Would Ooka have commanded his Dragoness to cut him in half? Would he be staring at his insides? Would it hurt? It was a virtual reality after all.

"Jounoochi! Honda lost!" Was Honda also burned to black like this? The image flashed to his mind, and that was all that took for Jounoochi to heave out whatever he had managed to eat in the kitchens earlier.

"Come on, man," said Yami patting his back, "we need to find a way to get Honda back," he said. And as the blond vomited some more, his mind began to clear. Honda was in danger. Honda was in danger.

Because, there was no way possible, that Honda was dead. He had to save his friend.

* * *

**End Chapter 12**

* * *

_**Chapter notes:**_

_(1) Ryuu - Otogi Ryuji's name in Silver Millennium, thus in his general form he is known as either Dragon General or General Ryuu_

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_**Next Chapter Preview:**_

_"You think I'm a child, just because I have this form?" Noah's blue eyes weren't warm, they weren't friendly. They were ice-cold and they terrified her. Because in this world he was a god, but he was also someone who was barely above the age of eleven. He was a child mentally._

_His grin became nasty, as his form suddenly shifted, his features becoming more thin and elegant, as he grew in height. His eyes lost the child-like wideness, and now he looked almost exactly the same as Seto. His new form had little resistance, as he pinned her to the ground, trapping her between his body and the floor._

_"Do you think that just because I have never lived in the real world, I haven't aged?" The almost intimate embrace became akin to a torture device, as his lips were so close to her neck, that each word burned her skin._

_"I assure you, Usagi-chan" The endearment only made this situation worse. Now Usagi honestly feared for herself. "I am twenty years old, not eleven." He said and his teeth sharply bit her neck. She cried out in panic, trying to push him off, but her weakened body was no match for him._

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**The moment the reviews hit 145, I'm uploading the next chapter. :) As I have actually accidentally wrote up not one chapter but two. :)**


	14. 13: Saffer Memories

**22/July/2013 -** Hmm, I should have finished the ANaIB chapter first, but I'm currently stuck on a transition from the festival to the poisoning part and while I know what needs to happen, it's about the filler parts which make the story smooth. This story has many characters, so there is always a lot happening, it's a lot easier to write it, well that and the fact that I had this chapter written from the last one. :) Enjoy.

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_**Thanks everyone who reviewed and continued to support this story: BunnyHeartMedicine** (please, refrain from spamming next time, you reviewing multiple multiple times, does not equate to me getting the feedback I would like to have), **Evangeline11 **(Ohohoho... well, you'll feel sorry for Anzu in this chapter),** Alycee Lanet, rosetran628 **(Ah, I don't like that its a typical Beast and Beauty story, but no, wait, scratch that, it isn't they are both beasts in that one, as for what Yami will do in the future, you'll just have to observe), **HoshinoKaabi13 **(Hahaha, Heisei's can't just die off, or disappear that easily, she has a role to play), **a1m9a8n8da, Krissy****  
**_

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_**Names (first name is highlighted):**_  
_**Ryuji**__ Otogi (Duke Devlin)_  
_Jounoochi__** Katsuya **__(Joey Wheeler)_  
_**Shizuka**__ Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)_  
_**Anzu**__ Mazaki (Tea Gardner)_  
_Honda__**Hiroto** (Tristan Taylor)_  
_**Pegasus **__J. Crawford (Maximillian Pegasus)_  
_**Cyndia **__Crawford (Cecilia Pegasus)_  
_**Sugoroku **__Mutou (Solomon Muto)_  
_**Mai **__Kujaku (Mai Valentine)_  
_Sarutawari (Kemo)_  
_Crockets (Mr. Croquets)_  
_**Chikuzen** Oka(Johnson – Judge Man)_  
_**Kogoro** Daimon (Lector – Jinzo)_  
_**Shuzo** Otaki (Adrian Randolph Crump III – Nightmare Penguin)_  
_**Konosuke** Oshita (Gansley – Deepsea Warrior)_  
_**Soichiro** Ota (Nesbitt – Robotic Knight)_

* * *

**A.c.h.e.r.o.n: I.n.f.i.n.i.t.a.s**

**Part I: A New Beginning**

**Chapter 13**

* * *

No way this was happening. No way this was true. Honda was gone. Honda, his comrade, another general of the Silver Empire, the Gryphon General, Hiro(1) was gone just like that.

And because Honda didn't have his memories back, he played his game like an idiot, sure he played his game to protect Jupiter, who had no clue about the game at all, but if he had been awakened, Ryuu was damn sure the brunet would have managed.

And now he was gone.

It had almost seemed that they were getting better at their teamwork. Everyone had monsters in defense, Jupiter had Lady Panther and Forgiving Maiden, Honda had Command Angel and he had added Dark Assailant as well. Soichiro had no cards to use his Final Artillery anymore, and he had enough monsters to sacrifice for the summon of a more powerful monster. But Soichiro played Backup Soldier, allowing him to return three monsters from his graveyard to his hand, only discard them again and bring their life points down again. His to 2500, Jupiter's to 2100, and Honda's to 850. Having done that, the tech master played Clockwork Knight card, which converted all monster on the field to machine monsters, making them loose 500 attack points while the Machine King became as powerful as 2900. And to top that off, the Clockwork Knight gave the Machine King another 500 attack points, bringing it up to 3400 points. They had thought they were safe in defense, but one Soichiro played the magic card, Short Circuit, he took control of all of their monsters, forcing them into an attack position.

His target was once more Jupiter. And once more Honda took the attack. He had sent his Deck Master to intercept the attack, while using it's special ability, but 2200 attack points were not enough to protect him.

"You bastard!" Ryuu yelled, the power around him crackling. Oh, if only he could take this bastard out, but Noah had made sure that they wouldn't be able to use their powers on the Big Five. No matter what he would throw at the Machine King it just ricocheted off.

"Don't worry, unlike the others, I am merciful," spoke the Machine King. His gaze shifted to Sailor Jupiter, who was still kneeling down, impassively staring at the spot, where Honda had been yet a mere moment ago, before falling down into the flaming lava. "You really should get up and fight, girl," he sneered.

"Merciful?" she murmured, and her head whipped up, emerald eyes glaring at the robot. "How in seven skies are you merciful?" she growled, stumbling up.

"At least, I didn't kill him," replied the Machine King calmly, "I just separated his mind from his body, digitized in and preserved it in this realm. Everyone else agreed that letting you stay alive was far too dangerous," he gestured at himself, "but to me, you are nothing but children."

"How about not attacking children then in the first place," yelled Ryuu.

"You're so cruel," whispered Sailor Jupiter. She covered her face with her hands as she quietly wept.

"Didn't he die protecting you?" inquired Soichiro cruelly. And as Jupiter looked up her face twisted in pain, Ryuu felt all of that as well. This was why he didn't want her to duel. The Makoto he remembered from Silver Millennium was a tough and strong warrior, she was used to being the one who protected others; she wasn't used to be protected by someone else. The Nephrite incident only showed how she was not accustomed to someone else sacrificing themselves for her. That time it had been him, but he had survived the attack, even though he lost his hand.

"It's all my fault…" whispered Sailor Jupiter, as the green stone on her tiara flickered once, twice and her transformation disappeared leaving only Makoto Kino behind.

_Shit… she's gone for now… she can't even hold her transformation up…_

"Little girl, it's your turn," taunted Soichiro, and as Makoto looked up at him, it was clear she wouldn't be able to continue the duel.

"Mako-chan! Get up and fight! We might be able to save Honda, no, we have to save Honda! He's one of us too!" shouted Ryuu. But there was no reaction.

"Let's just skip her turn," offered Soichiro over the quiet sobbing that came from Makoto. And despite the fact that Ryuu thought he needed Makoto here and on it, there was no way he'd be able to get her to fight for now. But he needed her help. But… if they waited any longer, it would be considered giving up a duel, which would be even worse.

"Fine, let's skip her turn," finally the Dragon General conceded, he drew his card, Dice Dungeon. Perhaps he'd be able to turn this around now, after all, he was the inventor of Dungeon Dice, a game, which had yet to reach such a wide spread as Duel Monsters had.

"First, activate Dimensionhole!" He set the card on the field, "I remove Dark Assailant from the field for one turn!" As a the fabric of space time ripped away to reveal a dark portal, it sucked it his skeleton night, sealing Dark Assailant for one turn and making the Machine King one hundred points weaker.

"Next, let's just switch this game into something more to my liking," he set Dice Dungeon and Dimension Dice down and immediately the field changed.

The dungeon dice field that appeared between the opponents shocked Soichiro into silence. "What…" he whispered in disbelief, "this is Dungeon Dice Monsters game…" and suddenly it dawned on him, "could it be that you are the Ryuji that invented Dungeon Dice Monsters?"

"Indeed I am, I was surprised when I saw these cards, but I guess Usagi added these cards into his game as well, I'm quite pleased with this turn of event," grinning Ryuu sacrificed Yaranzo and the 13th Grave to summon Orgoth the Relentless, making the Machine King lose another 200 attack points. Now Orgoth had 2500 attack points and the Machine King had 3100.

He waved at the board, "Next, choose a monster to go on the dice board, I pick Orgoth of course." And he massive warrior monster stepped onto the board.

"I pick the Machine King of course. But your monster is still weaker than mine."

Ryuu smirked, "Only for now. Next we roll the die."

As a die appeared in each of their hands, he threw it on the board. The Robotic Knight got a one, and he got a six. Immediately the effects of that reflected themselves in their monsters, as Orgoth became twice as powerful (5000AP), while Machine King lost 1000 attack points (2100AP).

"You're making up the rules as you go along!" accused Soichiro angrily, to which Ryuu only shrugged, "It's all in the rule books, and you might as well as check it out." He smirked pointing towards the Machine King, "Orgoth! Attack!" Upon his command the purple clad warrior-god leapt up, brandishing his Diamond Sword above himself, and slammed down into the ground, his sword cutting clean through his enemy.

_Soichiro: 1100_

_Makoto: 2100_

_Ryuu: 2500_

With that he ended his turn, satisfied at the results. With this they were each almost twice ahead of Soichiro. He'd like to see the tech expert to get out of this.

Soichiro drew and immediately started cackling, sending Ryuu once more into panic mode. What was he planning to do now?

"First of all, I send my Deck Master to the field," Soichiro announced moving onto the field. "Next, I activate, Recycling Plant, which allows me to revive one of my monsters and fuse it with myself," As he shuffled through the cards from his graveyard, Soichiro began to glow, having picked out the card he needed, "I choose the Machine King," his form grew and shifted into something akin to the mecha-series Gundam, which was famous a few years ago. The 2700 attack monster was impressive, but still not that dangerous.

"Perfect Machine King has even a better special effect that the old Machine King. For each Machine monster it gains 500 attack points," and the numbers next to Soichiro went up to 4700, thanks to Lady Panther, Forgiving Maiden and Commando Angel and the Perfect Machine King itself. And finally the Clockwork Knight powered the Perfect Machine King by another 500 points, bringing it to a total of 5200.

Now they were in deep trouble. That thing was nearly unstoppable. And unless he got lucky with the die, he'd loose just like Honda did. Sweat rolled down his forehead, as Perfect Machine King rolled his die.

One. Two. Six. Three. It was slowing down. Six. No, not six. Six would be the end. Five. The die stopped. He got lucky.

Soichiro made a disgruntled sound, "A cut down in my power, never mind," his attack points fell to 3850, "I still get the power of from machine monsters and Clockwork Night.

_Come on, Fortuna, just smile at me for once. I know you don't particularly favor the Saturnians, but you could help me out this once._

Ryuu rolled his die. Two. Four. Six. Three. Six. One. Orgoth's attack points fell to 1500. The next attack would hurt like a bitch. The shoulder mounted missile covers opened, and multiple missiles hurtled out towards Orgoth, destroying the weakened warrior-god, while the rest zeroed in on Ryuu, who brought up quickly a shield of purple energy, to be able to withstand the hit. Yet the missiles went through the purple wall like through butter and exploded upon contact, burning his general robes, vessels ruptured in his arms, from the energy blast, and he cried out in pain falling down to his knees.

It did hurt like a bitch.

_Ryuu: 150_

_Makoto: 2100_

_Soichiro: 1100_

* * *

Noah watched in mild amusement the duel. Out of the Big Five Ota was the only one who actually considered that taking on the easier opponent was a wise choice. Yet the others thought otherwise. They thought to take out Yugi, who had beaten Kaiba on several times, Jounoochi, another one who would be able to bring the truth to the world, should they succeed taking Seto Kaiba's body, while instead, they should have started with the weakest links, take their bodies and then torture the rest by parading around with stolen identities. Psychological warfare worked best on those who never lost.

But for now, he needed to use that body that Ota had won. Somebody had to pick up the younger Kaiba brother and the Crawford girl, as the American champion and Kaiba were getting far too quickly towards the place, where he wanted Kaiba to duel first. Plus, he had an agreement with Heisei to uphold, after all, it was her and her weird powers, that made his Virtual Reality powerful enough to replace the mind in a body, with someone else's.

But for now, he had to digitize back the minds of someone else from the Big Five. Who would be the lucky one? Chikuzen Oka was a cheater, and he didn't really want to bring him back, but he was a lawyer, and he'd be able to convince Kaiba and Diamond, that he is the real Honda Hiroto. But he would lack the necessary information about the others, for that he needed Shuzo Otaki, but the sleazy fat accountant was unreliable in acting. Konosuke Oshita was though the one he'd trust the most with such an important mission, but that one would fail at everything else. Perhaps… he didn't have to bring all of them back completely. Perhaps it would be best to create a chimera from their minds. Combine what they do best and what he needs. Yes, that was the way it would go.

His little robot helpers set to collect bits and bobs from the areas were the three of the Big Five perished, destroyed by their own arrogance. The mind was really a collection of memories, trained reactions, it was very much like a machine, and if one wanted, one could reprogram it completely as well. The absolute power he held in this world was addictive. This would be the thing he would miss the most in the real world, once he took over Seto Kaiba's body.

In front of Noah, little by little a faceless, ageless humanoid shape formed, devoid of any previous appearance trait, the three of the Big Five reduced to a strange mind, which couldn't be really called human anymore.

Noah grinned in delight as the shape took on Honda Hiroto's form. And if Ota and Daimon lost he'd just merge their most brilliant character traits into this one too.

* * *

He still remembered the day that Kaiba had ordered the destruction of Alcatraz. It had been a difficult moment for him, because Alcatraz, the place where he designed all the weapons was something akin of a child to him, having no children of his own, his fiancée having left him in the wake of another military lawsuit, which implied that Kaiba Corp has been selling weapons to both sides, only escalating the conflict in the Middle East. That much was true, but it was a weaponry business and that was how all weapon industries have worked throughout the times and would be working.

They created more powerful weapons and sold them to one side, and then the other side had to buy more powerful weapons too, to be able to keep up with their enemies. It brought billions to Kaiba Corp. And then Seto Kaiba ordered the shut down of the Military Department of Kaiba Corp effectively putting him out of the job.

When he asked what would his new role be, Kaiba just said that he could help dispatch the materials for building the Duel tower on the ruins of Alcatraz, and that he should keep out of the way of on-site engineers. The humiliation that Kaiba put him through was worse than the humiliation, when his fiancée didn't show up on their wedding day, the next day after the lawsuit against Kaiba Corp was filed. Of course Ooka had won the lawsuit, and cleared Kaiba Corp name in the eyes of the law, but that didn't matter to her. To her he was a bloody monster.

"Mako-chan! Remember! Usagi needs you!" The boy was still trying to urge the girl to stand up and fight, but his words fell on deaf ears, as she still sat on the ground, in shock from the loss of her comrade.

"Indeed Mako-chan!" said someone. Soichiro looked up at the back of the hangar, where on a metal balcony stood a group of people. He recognized Yugi, Jounoochi and Anzu girl. The other two he didn't know, they weren't supposed to be in the game, but he guessed they were friends of the Crawford girl: an orange clad Sailor girl and a black-armored man.

"You should stand up and fight! Galaxia was a worse enemy than this guy!" exclaimed the orange clad girl, as she leapt down from the balcony gracefully, "We have a duty! And that is to protect Usagi!" she said, "If you give up now, then who will help Usagi?"

That seemed to catch Kino Makoto's attention, as she slowly stood up.

"Honda… he sacrificed himself to protect you," shouted Jounoochi, "You can't let this guy win!"

Finally the girl turned his eyes onto her, and within the emerald orbs he saw something that scared him. He didn't know why, but the burning electric current swirling within her eyes no longer promised any mercy.

"I will fight," said Makoto putting all of her resolution into her words. And he believed her.

* * *

Venus and Jounoochi were right. Why did she give up so early? Perhaps she was not the best duelist, but this guy, he had been a military weapon designer, he never was a duelist in the first place either. Why on earth did she let him make doubt herself she never knew? But she would rectify her mistake now.

Looking through her hand, her gaze landed on Marie the Fallen One, a card which needed a sacrifice, and suddenly all the lessons that Mercury had implanted her with flooded her mind, filling her with clarity and conviction. She knew how to do this now. Hopefully.

"Sacrifice, Lady Panther, to summon Marie the Fallen One!" Makoto declared and in a flurry of sparkles, the weak monster disappeared replaced by a blue-skinned winged lady in an a-cut dress. Her powerful wings flapped as she descended next to the Forgiving Maiden, looking expectantly at Makoto. Now she just needed a Fusion card, but she had none. How would she be able to call upon St Joan, without a fusion card?

_Mako-chan…_

It was the Goddess with the Third Eye speaking.

_You could use my special effect… I can fuse the monsters for you, if you give me one magic card._

Yes, that would be exactly what she needed right now.

"Activate Deck Master effect! Fuse Marie the Fallen One and the Forgiving Maiden!" She placed the only magic card she held into the graveyard, and the forms of Marie and the Maiden swirled into one, bringing to the field a silver-armored woman, with blonde hair, St Joan. And with the Command Angel on the field St Joan was powered up to 2800, which was still not enough to destroy Soichiro in his Perfect Machine King form, who had the attack of 4200.

"I need help..." Makoto looked at Ryuu, hoping that perhaps he had a way to help her power up our monster. But he shook his head.

"I'm sorry Mako-chan, I have nothing that could help you… perhaps if Honda was still here…" he trailed off looking at the empty space between them, where the Commando Angel and a facedown card still floated.

"Of course… maybe… just maybe…" whispered Ryuu, and placed two cards into his graveyard, "Activate Strike Ninja's special ability!" The other Deck Master powered by the discarded cards quickly started doing hand seals, chanting: "Rin Hyou Tou Sha Kai Jin Retsu Zai Zen!"

And Honda's left facedown card flipped over. Rare Metal Soul.

"Equip to St Joan!" exclaimed Ryuu, and St Joan got another power up, bringing her total attack to 4200, the same as Soichiro.

St Joan looked at Makoto expectantly, waiting for the order, the order that would end the game. _Honda… we've managed to avenge you… _"Destroy Perfect Machine King!" shouted Makoto. St Joan lit up with the power of all three of them combined, and shining white wings formed upon her back, as she flew off into a battle, in which she would perish, but would take down the enemies.

"You bastards!" screamed Soichiro as the energy from the two monsters attacking each other wiped the battlefield clean.

* * *

The turquoise haired boy hadn't expected Soichiro to loose, he was quite sure in his victory, but with the arrival of her friends, the girl gained back her courage and struck back most unexpectedly. Now, he had to gather bits and pieces of Soichiro from the data junkyard as well.

It felt nice that he had put this failsafe in case the Big Five turn out to be as incompetent as he had expected them to be. Once he took over Kaiba Corp back and rebuilt his father's kingdom the way it was supposed to be, he didn't need the Big Five in their original state. He only needed their combined knowledge about the military empire that Kaiba Corp had once been, otherwise they would be just hindering his progress and would try to rebel sooner or later.

As he sent the bots to collect what he needed from Soichiro's mind, he brought up the screen where 'Honda Hiroto' was approaching Seto Kaiba, Diamond Ace, Mokuba Kaiba and Usagi Crawford. There was one of the Big Five left and he honestly hoped that Seto would beat Daimon Kogoro, after all, he wouldn't hand over Seto's body to anyone else, no, he would come back as Seto Kaiba and with no problem whatsoever take back that which was supposed to have been his.

A soft influx of energy alerted him, that Heisei had entered the virtual reality once more. The screen flickered and silvery-blond woman appeared on the screen.

_Change of plans, _she said.

Noah raised an eyebrow, Heisei wanted to break Crawford's neck and take the Silver Crystal she coveted so much, "Did you not manage to kill off Crawford?"

_Her little power toy has also failsafe devices built into it, I'll just have to kill her here, then I will take over her body and take what should have been mine…_

"Very well, she'll be soon brought to me with Mokuba Kaiba, I'll leave the honors to you."

This was one of the main reasons he liked Heisei so much. She was just like him. She was denied something that should have been hers, whatever it was that she and Usagi Crawford didn't manage to divvy up. But the raw anger and hatred she felt for Crawford could only be matched by his hate and anger for Seto.

* * *

Her intuition brought her to the sea west of Japan. Somewhere deep under the water was the place where Usagi was. Deep under the water she saw she soft pink glow, which was without a doubt the glow from Usagi's star seed.

_Broken connection. The robot that pulled the Silver Crystal out of the Eternal Brooch short-circuited as the raw energy of the Silver Crystal burst out and white-pink quartz rose to encompass the underwater fortress, where Usagi was trapped, sealing off the Silver Crystal that was separated from its owner, and making sure that no enemy would be able to get to either the Silver Crystal itself or the Moon Avatar._

The sudden vision overtook her without any warning, and Sailor Saturn halted in her descent under the water. And as the vision disappeared new things came to her sight. Many different energy streams were running from the east into the quartz. Two of them she easily recognized, bright emerald for Sailor Jupiter and golden orange for Sailor Venus. The others…

The Senshi of Destruction flew over to the closest line, silvery-white, as she touched it a face flashed in front of her eyes, white-hair and purple eyes, a black upside down crescent on his forehead: she didn't recognize the face, but if she was correct this was Prince Diamond of the Black Moon.

What was he doing there, she had no idea, but she didn't feel any malicious intent. The next string was golden, and upon touching it she saw the face of Endymion. How he got into the game? And where had he been before? The next energy string had a feel similar to that of her home planet, Ryuji Otogi, the general from Saturn. So he was in the game as well.

A teal line, Honda Hiroto. A soft-pink and yellow string - that was Anzu. Brownish-golden line - that was Mokuba Kaiba. A black string mixed with a soft lavender one, Yugi and Yami. Finally she touched the last string, which was a silvery grey color: the moment the face flashed before her eyes, she couldn't hold back a sneer, as the haughty looking face appeared within her mind: Shizukesa, her brain supplied.

From the limited memory she received with the first Silver Crystal resonation, she recognized the Lady of the Moon, who had caused many problems for them back in the past.

She was there too.

_Now, what should I do…_

She really had a few choices, she wanted to get out Usagi, but with the Silver Crystal covering the fortress she couldn't get it. Which left her with Prince Diamond and Shizukesa. Shizukesa was definitely a risk factor, Diamond, she couldn't say for sure.

Perhaps she'd be able to contact someone. According to what she saw Mercury was one of the people not in the game.

Quick-dialing the brain of their group, she was relieved when Ami instantly answered her call.

"Saturn, thank gods you're there, we have an issue at hand," blurted out the blue-haired girl.

"I know, and I have located Usagi," replied Saturn,

Ami breathed out a sigh of relief, "Good, can you get her out of there?"

Sailor Saturn shook her head. "I can't. The Silver Crystal was removed by a robot, and the fortress where she and Kaiba are kept is now encased in a protective quartz."

Ami frowned. "That's good and bad at the same time. Because Usagi in the virtual reality would be severely weak from the Silver Crystal in protective mode. By my calculations she'd be an easy target for our enemies," the Senshi of Mercury explained.

"That's what I'm calling you about. There are two people in the virtual reality that I'm worried about. Shizukesa and Diamond."

"Can you track down Shizukesa?" Ami quickly asked.

"I can." Saturn nodded. "What about Diamond?"

"Not an issue, he's on our side," came the reply.

"If you say so."

"Anyway, try to find Shizukesa and get her out of the VR. If she goes after Usagi now, she'll be just a sitting duck."

"Alright." With that Saturn cut off the connection, and touched the silvery-grey energy line as well. It went back to Japan… Images flashed before her minds eyes. The Dietman Building. Just below it, in the sewers. That was where Shizukesa had her hide out.

In a flash of purple energy, Saturn was off to find Shizukesa.

* * *

It was only after the duel ended and Honda didn't reappear, the depth of what was happening finally sunk into her blond friend's head.

"Honda's gone!" cried out Jounoochi as he fell to his knees. Anzu dropped down next to him, embracing her friend as he shook in tears. When the Big Five had informed them they wanted to steal their bodies, she had never known that it would be an agonising death, which would mean the ultimate disappearance of their very whole being.

"He's still somewhere," said Ryuji, barely recognizable in the purple robes, covered in silver armor, the embroidered 'h' on the front part of his plate. Even he and Jupiter couldn't protect their friend. But they didn't know… they didn't know that if you died here, you died in the real world as well.

"No, if you lost the game, your mind was destroyed as well," grimly stated Yugi. His words seemed hollow, and it's weight pushed her down. Each passing second, she realized that she would never be able to see Honda again. What was the last thing she said to him? Was it something nice? Or was it something mean? She hoped it was something nice.

"But… Soichiro said he didn't approve of the method the others employed," noted Makoto. "He said he had digitized Honda's mind and stored it somewhere."

And it seemed as if a light at the end of the tunnel finally appeared.

"Then…" whispered Jounoochi, finally looking up, his cheeks still wet, "We need to find where Soichiro put Honda's mind."

Venus frowned, "We need to find Usagi though, the shockwave earlier that I'm sure everyone felt was a distress signal from the Ginzuishou, she's in trouble," the blonde Soldier said.

"_You are correct," _came the voice of Mercury. After managing to connect to them briefly after Jounoochi's duel and directing them towards Makoto and Ryuji they lost the connection with the outside world, but now she was back.

Makoto let out a sigh of relief, "Did you manage to fix the signal?"

"_It's rather weak…" _Ami's voice was interrupted with more static. _"I can though give you an approximate location of the Kaiba brothers, Diamond and Usagi. Saturn is also on her way to get Shizukesa out of the way. But I'd rather have some of you find Usagi in case Shizukesa tries to attack her."_

"Usagi?" Yugi breathed out, and then his violet eyes bled into red. The other Yugi was here. Anzu cringed, quickly turning away. It still hurt that he would appear this quickly for _her. _Would he do the same for little old her? He was always so protective of the blonde heiress.

"_We suspect that something must have been done to the Ginzuishou, in the real world, as the shockwave also went through the control center in the real world. I can't get a scan on Usagi's status, due to all the interference, but I suspect that she might be in trouble, especially if Shizukesa decides to target her now."_

"And Diamond despite all his capabilities perhaps wouldn't be able to hold of the queen bitch," said Venus irritably. Anzu had no idea who was this Shizukesa, but judging by the very disgruntled faces of the planet Senshi and their general, she was bad news.

"Shizukesa?" Yami glanced at Venus in question.

"A bitch from the Silver Millennium, calls herself Heisei now," muttered Venus.

The reaction was immediate, as everyone took a step back from Yami the moment shadows rose around him, as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "Then we must go and find her," he growled.

_And that's the way it is, isn't it, it's always about her…_

Anzu stood up, helping Jounoochi along the way. She frowned. It was a bit unfair. Honda was also their friend. "What about Honda?" she asked crossly.

For a second Yami seemed to be caught in between a rock and a hard place, but then he shook his head, "Honda is in no immediate danger, Usagi can be though."

Anzu supposed he had a point, but…

"It's annoying," she muttered. Taking a step towards the red-eyed spirit. It was really aggravating and she could barely hold her anger in. The last time she felt that way, was when Jounoochi and Honda were still behaving like absolute assholes and bullied Yugi. She went ballistic on them everyday, which was why even now the two boys were not eager to earn her ire.

The spirit stared at her dumbfounded, just as confused as the other people surrounding them.

"You have so many friends, people who've been with you ever since you awakened," she whispered darkly, "friends who've accepted you despite your quite questionable acts," at her words Sailor Venus glanced at Yami, who now finally was giving her his full attention. "

Ushio is still in the mental hospital you know." Oh Anzu wanted to stop, she wanted to stop saying these mean things, but just because Usagi might be in danger, didn't mean that he had the right to forsake his other friends. "That ZTV director is almost blind and also in a mental hospital. He says he only sees pixelated world, the doctors say that his vision should be fine, and it's all in his head, but we know better." She didn't like what she was doing to him, yet when Jounoochi asked her quietly to stop, putting a hand on her shoulder she slapped it away angrily.

"Shut up! I have the right to say this! Sozoji! Do you remember him?" Anzu almost screamed, as Yami quietly nodded.

"He still hears his heart beat all the time! And what about that convict, Jiro the Yellow Spider? You burned him alive! I mean, I'm glad you rescued me!" the brunette screamed, "But you killed him!"

It was becoming rather hard to breathe. "What about the others? Goro Inogashira would never be the same again! Ms. Chono is nothing but a mumbling wreck! That scorpion owner is dead, sure, you will say it was his own pet scorpion that killed him, but we all," Anzu gestured at herself, Jounoochi, "We know what you are! Does Usagi know? What would she say if she knew all of this?"

She glanced around, and saw Venus white as a paper, her companion, Endymion looked not much better, Makoto was staring wide-eyed at Yami, shocked into silence. Only Ryuji was unfazed by her tirade.

"I find it extremely unfair, that you would turn your back on a friend who accepts you no matter what you have done in your past, to run and save a girl, who might turn away from the moment she finds out about this." Anzu took a deep breath. No one said anything. No one could. Now, maybe the Senshi would go and sort out their duty, after all, weren't they supposed to protect Usagi, and Yami could help them find Honda. They could meet afterwards and get out of this godforsaken game…

"You might be right." Finally he decided to grace her with an answer. "But I also think…" Yami's face twisted in concentration, as he glanced to the side of him, which usually meant he was having a conversation with Yugi. He frowned, the shadow powers pulsed once around him, "Fine," he spoke, "I won't say that."

Now he would not say something, because Yugi stopped him! No, this would not do at all! She was his friend! She learned to love him, before anyone else did!

"No! I want you to say it!" She turned to the empty spot beside Yami, where Yugi was probably standing invisible to everyone but Yami, "Yugi, whatever he wanted to say, let him say it."

"Forget it," growled Yami, turning away, "Where is Usagi, Sailor Mercury?" he asked. He was dismissing her. As if she didn't even matter at all. It was so cruel, so heartless, so mean!

Sailor Mercury cleared her throat, _"Usagi is to the south-west of where you are, approximately…"_

"AM I NOT EVEN YOUR FRIEND?" Anzu's shout interrupted whatever Mercury had to say.

"Listen, I think we should go," Sailor Venus said, uncomfortable with the whole situation, "Usagi might be in danger," she explained, "And… you have _this _to sort out," she glanced between Yami and Anzu.

"No, I'll come as well," said Yami definitely. "Ryuji can go along with Jounoochi and Anzu to find Honda, it's not as if I'd be much of a help if I'm worried about Usagi."

"Usagi, Usagi, Usagi," breathed out Anzu angrily. She didn't quite expect Yami to twist around, his eyes burning into her in sheer fury. She had never been the one on the receiving end of his anger, and now it scared her.

"Exactly, it's Usagi, Usagi, Usagi! You are indeed my friend, just like Yugi, or Honda, or Jounoochi." Each word was like a hammer. "But that's it. You are my friend. And the only reason you're having a go at me," Yami hissed, "Is because you want it to be, Anzu, Anzu, Anzu."

Anzu stifle back a gasp, as she turned away from Yami, tears beginning to form in her eyes. He knew. He knew it all along. But even then he still chose Usagi.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm an ancient spirit, trapped in this trinket," the red-eyed man, grabbed at the Puzzle at his neck, "And I am dead! I have no fucking body! Usagi is the only one who can touch me, if I'm in my spirit form," he bit out. "Or what kind of phantasy are you living in? That I will take over Yugi's life and be together with you? You're my friend Anzu. And so is everyone else here, but Usagi is the one I love, and the one, I will ultimately have to leave, because once my mission in this world is done, I'll still be dead."

"_Um… guys… I managed to find Honda's mind, and I managed to find Honda's virtual body, you'll need to recombine them for Honda to return."_

Everything was fading to white. Everyone was fading away. The only thing Anzu could see was his eyes - accusing, judging, looking at her as if she was a mere bug. He knew. He knew that she had feelings for him. But he still chose her. Even if in the end, he would leave Usagi, _heartbroken, _he still chose her. He even saw why she had to go off like this. He knew it. And Yugi had wanted to spare her this pain. Anzu bit back a sob, as Jounoochi stepped next to her, to embrace her, her blond friend torn between supporting her, or Yami…

"That was cruel, dude," whispered Jounoochi, but his words had no spite in them. Because in the end, Yami would have to die fully. He would have to pass on into the other realm. Leave everyone behind. And even now, Anzu still hated him for choosing her, for rejecting her love, but she also felt so sad. He would leave… forever…

"Where is Honda?" asked Ryuji. He was the only one who was not shaken up by their confrontation. Still composed and graceful. And she just wanted to know which way Yami would go, so that she could go the opposite way and try to find Honda.

"_Well, you're in luck. 2 miles south-west from here you'll come upon a warehouse block. Somewhere there, there will be the mind of Honda, I do not know, where Soichiro stored it, but I might be able to get a better reading once you're there. Kaiba brothers, Usagi and Diamond are also approaching that area, but… that area is also being approached by Honda-san's body. It has probably been taken over already. I'm sorry."_

And there went that idea… she had to face him, even after all of this.

"We need to warn the others," said Venus, "They don't know that Honda is no longer Honda."

"_You'll have to run, I'm sorry, I have no way of contacting any of them."_

Sailor Venus gave everyone a long look, "Should we go then?" she asked. Yami nodded, immediately setting off after Ryuji, and Anzu barely held back another sob. He turned away. He said all these things and then just turned his back on her.

He was right though.

She hadn't gone off like that because of Honda… she had gone off like that, because it was always Usagi, Usagi, Usagi.

It was unfair.

* * *

The being that used to be the three of the Big Five had finally reached its destination. It was an area in the VR, which was filled with warehouses, and according to the intelligence his master Noah had provided him with, that was where his targets were.

His mission: capture Mokuba Kaiba and Usagi Crawford, pretending to be Honda Hiroto. With the mixed memories of the three of the Big Five it would be easy enough. The map that only the BigThree saw flashed once, as it gave him new directions to the Kaiba brothers, Diamond and Usagi.

BigThree dismounted his bike, as the four red dots reached a crossroad a block ahead of him.

Diamond probably knew from Usagi's intelligence that he was supposed to be with Makoto and Ryuji, so he had to make an excuse.

An exit, that's right. Makoto and Ryuji found an exit, and they were guarding it till everyone else would arrive. They sent him to find them, so that they'd be able to return to their bodies. With the weak state that Usagi was in, Diamond would definitely ask him to get her to the exit. Kaiba was another issue altogether, he probably wouldn't let his little brother go, since he wouldn't trust him. But he guessed as long as he got Diamond to hand over the Crawford girl he'd be able to knock out Mokuba and escape with both of them.

Noah-sama would make an exit for him, so that Diamond wouldn't be able to catch up with him. Yes, this would work. It had to, or Noah-sama would disassemble his mind once more, and the BigThree liked his mind the way it was.

* * *

Shortly after they arrived in the vicinity of the area where Usagi and the rest were supposed to be, Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter split off from the main group, in an effort to get the attention of the Kaiba brothers and Diamond. Something about summoning big flashy attacks in the sky to catch their eye. Ryuji or, as per his request to be called in this form, Ryuu was running along the rooftops of the nearby warehouses, for better observation.

Anzu and Jounoochi were a few yards behind, struggling to catch up with the breakneck speed of the Sailor Senshi and their allies, and he was left in the company of the black-haired man, who identified himself as Endymion. Yugi was uncharacteristically quiet, but given the circumstances, Yami was not surprised in the least. He _had _been extraordinarily heartless towards Yugi's crush. And it _had _been really cruel to say what he said.

Of course he had known that Anzu had this ridiculous crush on him. Of course he had known that deep inside Anzu bore resentment towards Usagi for catching his attention. But could he really be blamed for that? After all, she was the only he could even touch, when he wasn't in control of his host's body, he was a spirit trapped inside that godforsaken device, without a sense or purpose, except battle. He was not of this world.

"Are you really dead?" asked Endymion suddenly. Yami was pulled out of his destructive thought pattern. The black cape of the man in front of him swished, as even as the man had placed his question he didn't stop. "Well?" The red-eyed man was given a sideways glance as he caught up with his companions pace.

Yami sighed. "I am. I lived during your era as well, but according to what I know I sacrificed myself and sealed my spirit within this Puzzle to seal a great evil."

"I see," said Endymion. "Do you know what your purpose is in this world?"

"To defeat that evil once more," replied Yami resolutely, "It already took Usagi's father and it is connected to the Sennen Items."

Endymion grinned at him, "Well, at least your heart is in the right place," but then the man frowned, "But I'm worried. About you and Usagi,"

Usagi. Usagi. Usagi. The shining bright light of his life, she was different, she was captivating, and yet every time he looked at her, besides wanting to jump up and tangle her into a crazed dance of life and love, why did he feel so sad. Oh, right, because it would a crazed dance of love and death. So what that she could touch him? He still was dead. He had been dead for over five thousand years.

So what could he do?

"She'd be hurt if you have to leave," said Endymion, his eyes fixated on the giant lightning dragon, which formed in the distance once more. As his features were lit up by the lightning, what Yami saw the possessive part of him didn't like. It was love, for _his _Usagi. His power must have reacted to it, as Endymion turned to him, a slight look of surprise on his face.

"Woah, calm down, I'm not interested in Usagi, what we had is strictly in the past," he laughed, "And Mi-chan… I can't leave her. I love her in this life, not Usagi."

What they had in the past… he didn't know that Usagi had a relationship with this guy. But to be fair, he didn't know much about Usagi at all. What was her favorite food? What was her favorite drink? What was her favorite color? What were her dreams? Where did she grow up? Whom had she loved before? What were her hobbies? What did he know about Usagi besides her duties and responsibilities in front of the world?

He knew next to nothing about her, yet why, why did he have all these conflicting emotions?

Endymion must have noticed his solemn mood, and tried: "Hey, don't get so upset, I'm sure Usagi would be even more sad if you'd decided to break it off, because you don't want her being hurt in the end, when you have to leave," the dark-haired man paused, "_if _you have to leave."

Break it off, but… what were they? He called her his woman, and he got mad if anyone dared to try to touch her, and the thought of another guy flirting with her made him livid. But… if he was right, officially in this world they were nothing. He hadn't even asked her out. That much he knew from Yugi about modern relationships, if you wanted it to be official, you had to ask whether the other party was willing to be your partner, much like official courtship, only it didn't necessarily lead to marriage.

And there he came to another problem: the future. He was dead, he had no body, he had no future. Usagi had her whole life in front of her. And one day she would want to have a family. One day she would want to settle down and have a few children of her own. And how would he be able to provide her what she wished? And what would happen if she aged? (He wasn't quite sure about this point, cause technically she was an alien.) What would happen if she didn't age but Yugi did.

All in all: he had no future. She had one. And he couldn't be in it.

"I can't…" he whispered.

"Yami," Endymion warned, "Don't make the mistake I did. When for her sake I decided to break it off. It didn't end good."

For her sake, breaking it off. But…

"I had the reoccurring dreams that she would die if she stayed with me, I got scared and broke up with her, just when the new enemy arrived, in the end it only got her hurt," the regretful look in his eyes spoke a million words, "what I'm trying to say, is that you shouldn't make the same mistakes, even if you're dead."

And it made all perfect sense. But it also made sense, that he couldn't steal Yugi's life away. For him to be with her, Yugi would have to always be near Usagi. Not necessarily in the same room, but same building at least.

And he couldn't just force Yugi to always follow Usagi around. Not when Yugi was so in love with Anzu. Not when Anzu was so in love with him. He just couldn't stay. Not for Yugi's sake. Not for Anzu's sake. Not for Usagi's sake. He had to leave, once he finished his mission.

* * *

"Yo!" When the voice came from behind them, accompanied by a distant thunder crash, Seto and Diamond twisted around, Kaiba immediately pushing his younger brother him. The white-haired prince of the Black Moon carefully balancing Usagi's weight on one hand, as he summoned an energy pshere into another hand, ready to defend the unconscious moon soldier should the need arise. It was only Honda. The youth waved at them cheerfully as he ran up to them. Diamond dismissed the magic in his right hand, breathing out a sigh of relief. Luckily for him, it wasn't Shizukesa.

"Finally something that is not a stupid memory!" exclaimed Mokuba, coming out from behind his brother as it was clear there was no danger.

"Weren't you with Jupiter and the Dragon General?" asked Diamond, shifting his weight so the prone form of Usagi was more comfortable on his shoulders. There was another thunder crash, still far, but moving closer. It was amazing how realistically Noah simulated nature in the VR. Diamond honestly admired the astonishing work, it was much more real than the first game he was in.

"Yeah, I was," replied Honda breathily, as he leaned on his knees, trying to catch his breath, "We found the exit. Jupiter and Ryuji are guarding it, while Mercury is making sure Noah cannot erase it."

"Really?" exclaimed Diamond, that was really good news. This way they could get Usagi out of the virtual reality, and once awake, she'd be able to inform them of her location and they'd get her and Seto out from wherever they were. "Then we must get there fast, there's something wrong with Usagi," he murmured, casting a glance back at the blonde, whose head limply leaned against his shoulder.. "She detransformed and passed out, we don't know why."

"I came here on a bike," said Honda, "It's hidden in the warehouse," pointing towards the building a block away, "I could take Usagi off your hands," he said.

"Ok, how about you take Usagi to the exit and we'll catch up," suggested Diamond. If Jupiter were at the exit, she'd be more capable of fending the silver bitch off.

"While that's all fine and dandy, I still need to deal with Noah," grumbled Seto.

Diamond frowned. Seto Kaiba's pride was something really amazing. He really had no need to deal with the brat. "You don't, really, you don't need to."

Seto sneered at him, "Unlike some, I prefer my enemies dealt with immediately," he snarled.

"I'll go with you, nii-sama!" said Mokuba. For a second Seto seemed to agree with Mokuba, "Let's go, Mokuba."

"Wait, Kaiba," called out Honda. "There is though a horrible rule in this virtual reality," he said. Seto turned to him, not even bothering to hide his disinterest in whatever Honda had to say.

"If you die here, you die in the real world as well." And that got Seto thinking.

Finally, after a minute or two he made up his mind. "Mokuba, go with Honda. Diamond and I shall catch up and we'll leave this game. I'll deal with Noah in the real world."

"You sure, nii-sama?"

Seto nodded. He gave Honda a long hard glare, "Take care of my little brother, or I'll rip your balls off." The brunet gulped, shakily nodding in reply.

"Of course, Kaiba, of course."

Diamond carefully handed Usagi over, threatened Honda for sake of good measure too, and after describing the location of the exit, and current state of duels and losses of the Big Five to Diamond and Kaiba, the brunet left with Mokuba trailing after him towards the warehouse, where Honda had his motorcycle stored. Finally there was a distant sound of an engine roaring to life, and motorcycle swerved out of the warehouse, Usagi lying in the passenger carriage of the vehicle, and Mokuba sitting in front of Honda. The boy waved to them, and the bike sped off.

The two men watched in silence as the red headlights of the motorcycle disappeared finally in the mist that was rising up, as another sound of thunder echoed through the area, the storm was almost above them.

Diamond glanced at Seto, who had an unreadable expression on his face as usual, master of his expressions. "You're not planning to go after Mokuba, are you?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" Seto asked in return.

"I guess not," Diamond sighed, "I'll accompany you," he said.

The CEO pursed his lips together in dislike, "I don't need company," he stated.

Diamond rolled his eyes, "Listen, you'd not be able to do anything if Shizukesa decides to take it out on you, once she realizes Usagi is out of her reach," To prove his point the prince summoned a sphere of magic energy, "It's not as if you have unlocked your memories yet, to be able to protect yourself from this."

Seto let out an exasperated sigh, "How many times do I have to repeat? I am not connected to you in any way, besides the fact that Usagi S. Crawford is my business partner."

Diamond gave him a nasty smirk, "So, can you absolutely truthfully tell me that you don't feel a déjà vu every time you look at Yami, High Priest Seth?"

There was no answer as Seto glared at him. Yeah, that's what he thought. The stoic man, with a stick up his ass, was indeed feeling this way. And it was to be expected. Because as far as Diamond knew, High Priest Seth never died in the time of the Silver Empire. He lived till the ripe age of 90, ruling after Yami, whatever his name was in the past, sealed himself in the puzzle.

There was a sudden thunderclap and their heads jerked up simultaneously to the sound. In the opposite direction of where Honda went off with Mokuba and Usagi was a lightning dragon flying above the distant building.

"That is strange…" murmured Diamond.

The dragon, which then seemed to notice them surged down from the sky, crashing into the round in front of them, the resulting flash blinding the two men. When the light died down, in the center of a scorched circle kneeled Sailor Jupiter. What was she dong here?

"Weren't you supposed to be at the exit?" exclaimed Diamond, "Did something happen?"

Sailor Jupiter looked at his confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Honda said…" began Diamond, but as Jupiter paled at his words, he realized something went really wrong.

"Honda is no longer Honda-kun. The real Honda's mind is trapped somewhere, but whoever you saw was something that Noah planted inside Honda-kun's body."

Seto cursed loudly, and the next second the CEO was off running in the direction into which Honda had taken off. And just as Diamond was about to take off after him, Heisei arrived on the scene, by slamming the hilt of the sword in the back of Diamond's head.

* * *

A million emotions went through Jupiter's head as she looked upon the silver witch. And a thousand flickers of memories of past long gone flashed through her mind. She remembered when her father decided to side with Miriam, against the ascending of Serenity to the throne. She remembered when Sailor Saturn defected to the side of Black Moon, and that something about that made her very sad. She remembered when she had to imprison her father, after Serenity took over the Moon capital. She remembered asking him why.

He had no answer for her, except that it seemed the most logical to instate Miriam as regent, when it had been always true for all of them to follow the Serenities. She didn't know why it had to go that way, but she knew that this girl was the same as she had been back then: jealous and lonely, and now as she looked at her, she knew that she hadn't changed even one bit.

"I feel pity for you," the Senshi said, her words filling Heisei's eyes with hate. The sword in her hand seemed very familiar, but Jupiter couldn't put her finger on it.

_Doesn't matter…_

At her words Heisei burst out in high giggles, stepping over Diamond's prone body. "Pity? Me?" she asked, swinging her sword to the side, "I think the only one you should pity is yourself," the silver witch spoke, "After all, I just came here, to tell you the good news," her toothy grin spread, revealing the pearly white of her teeth, that made her look like a Cheshire Cat, "The line of Serenity will finally end."

"As if I'd let you!" growled Jupiter, and charged at Heisei, her fists crackling with electricity. Bringing her left fist backwards, she launched a kick at the silver haired woman, which she blocked with the hilt of her sword, and that's when the Senshi of Lighting connected her fist to Heisei's temple, the current of electricity coursing through her opponent's body.

Using the momentary confusion caused by a direct shock to the brain, Jupiter kicked Heisei straight in the solar plexus. Satisfied at the pained gasped that came from the silver bitch, she just couldn't resist to throw a jibe at her.

"Not so cocky after all once I let my fists do the talking?" With satisfaction the Sailor Senshi watched the woman stumble up, coughing up quite a bit of blood.

"While I'll certainly enjoy wiping the floor with you, I have different plans, so I'll just be on my way," snarled Heisei, flicking her wrist and opening a portal behind her. Jupiter lunged towards her even though she knew she wouldn't be able to make it in time, to stop her from going after Usagi.

"Toodles," grinned Hesei, waving at Jupiter, as she stepped into the portal. But the next second she scared in pain, as a chain made of hearts, burning hot, wrapped around her waist and swung her away from the portal and into the dumpsters behind Jupiter.

"Don't even think about it," said Sailor Venus, standing on top of the warehouse opposite of the alley. "I kicked your ass once, and I won't hesitate to do so again." In the hands of the Senshi of Love a stone sword formed, the Holy Blade, Sword of the Silver Crystal.

"Oh really?" with a hiss Heisei crawled out. "I hadn't actually even expected to have to reveal to you my true power, but if it comes to this," at this the two Senshi snorted in sync, amused by the woman's arrogance.

"Saffer Crystal Power!" shouted the woman, and in an explosion of raw unleveled power from her, Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter dashed to a safe distance preparing for the worse. But as the lightshow cleared, Heisei was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The blue lights of the screens around her blinded her momentarily, as she came back to the world of consciousness, and even though her mind screamed at her to get up and run, she couldn't. All of her energy was gone, and she could barely feel the presence of the Silver Crystal. Something had happened in the real world, she was sure.

_Heisei…_

It could have been the jealous Lady of Arzachel city, but surely she wouldn't have gotten to the Silver Crystal. Even back in the Silver Millennium it was something that always was out of her reach.

"You're awake." Usagi immediately recognized the voice. It was Noah. Groggily she pushed herself up and came face to face with the turquoise haired boy. Now that she saw him up close she was pretty sure of it, this had to be Gozaburo Kaiba's real son. But what had happened to him? Where was he in the real world?

"You're Gozaburo's real son, aren't you?" Usagi asked, straining herself even just to speak.

"That is correct. I am the true heir of the Kaiba Corp," he replied, his tone even and calm. Well, no wonder, why should he even be worried in the least, when it took all of her power to even sit straight. But something didn't add up, this boy was not by much older than Mokuba, but Kaiba's son had been slightly older than her when she met him as a child.

"Aren't you supposed to be older than me?" she inquired.

A grim smile twisted Noah's face. "This is the age of my body, when it died," he stated.

_Dead…_

She suspected that. There had been talk of Gozaburo being in a car crash, but no one ever talked about his son – Gozaburo never talked about his son, she had just assumed he never was in the crash in the first place. But she had to know for sure. "What happened?"

"A car accident. My body was damaged beyond repair and my mind digitized," Noah simply stated, "After that father looked for a new host for me, and he found him…"

The realization made her sick. Gozaburo planned to use Seto as the new host for his son's mind. "Seto."

"Indeed. But eventually my father forgot about me, and I was left to rot in this virtual reality," spat Noah, hate dripping from his voice.

"And now you seek revenge?"

Noah chuckled, "Yes, I'm going to claim back what was supposed to be mine, including Seto Kaiba's body."

It was cruel. But this boy, who had never lived in the real world… she wanted to tell him that it was wrong, that it was cruel, but for some reason she couldn't. Because in the end, it was his father's fault.

"He should have let you die," she whispered, and then Noah slapped her. His little frame was extremely powerful, without a doubt something that he had built into the program.

"How can you say that!" he hissed.

Usagi pushed herself off the floor, looking up at him. She could only feel pity for him. He was denied his right to rebirth. Stuck in the limbo, where he never grew.

"You were supposed to be reborn," she explained quietly, how could she make him understand, that even now she could see his star seed deteriorating further and further, and when all of the shine would be gone, the only place he'd be going would be past the river of Acheron, into death.

"If you stay this way any longer, you will be no longer even in this state," she said, "Let me help you, my friend, my sister, she can guide your soul towards rebirth," Usagi begged. But in return she got only a hate filled gaze.

"You want me to stop existing?" he snarled, grabbing her ponytail and pulling at it harshly.

Usagi yelped at the sudden pain. "Noah, I mean it. You are a child, you may have been _alive, _but you have no experience, and you'll never get it if you stay this way," she begged. At that, the boy plopped down on his knees in front of her.

"You think I'm a child, just because I have this form?" Noah's blue eyes weren't warm, they weren't friendly. They were ice-cold and they terrified her. Because in this world he was a god, but he was also someone who was barely above the age of eleven. He was a child mentally.

His grin became nasty, as his form suddenly shifted, his features becoming more thin and elegant, as he grew in height. His eyes lost the child-like wideness, and now he looked almost exactly the same as Seto. His new form faced little resistance from her, as he pinned her to the ground, trapping her between his body and the floor.

"Do you think that just because I have never lived in the real world, I haven't aged?" The almost intimate embrace became akin to a torture device, as his lips were so close to her neck, that each word burned her skin.

"I assure you, Usagi-chan" The endearment only made this situation worse. Now Usagi honestly feared for herself. "I am twenty years old, not eleven." He said and his teeth sharply bit her neck. She cried out in panic, trying to push him off, but her weakened body was no match for him.

Next Noah kissed her. And Usagi knew that she still was right. He was bluffing. There was nothing in the kiss. He was doing this to prove a point. It had no lust, it had no desire. Noah hadn't aged a single day in this world, which meant that Noah also never reached his puberty. She stopped struggling and he pulled away from her, content that she had stopped struggling.

"Have you given up, Usagi Serenity Crawford?"

Usagi shook her head, "Don't confuse my unwillingness to fight you with giving up. I just feel sad for you." The blue eyes narrowed in animosity at her words.

"I don't need your pity." And as he hit her, she blacked out again.

* * *

It was not difficult to find the Shizukesa's hideout, as halfway towards her destination, when the silver-grey thread she was following, suddenly began glowing with golden energy as well, and what Saturn felt was quite similar to the Sailor Senshi energy, powerful and beckoning anything magical, with a pulse of its own. And that made it far too easy to teleport directly into the Lunarian's den. Her enemy was floating in the middle of the room, her eyes closed, in the middle of her chest there was a crystal that glowed with an energy she couldn't quite recognize, but felt as if she shouol have.

_Well… never mind that_, she had to get this woman out of the VR and before she could get to Usagi. She didn't know, whether what she was planning to do would leave the woman unscathed, but if it end up harming this menace, all for the better.

The Silence Glaive came flowing down at Shizukesa's solar plexus, where the energy/soul strand flowed from her body back into the VR center at the underwater fortress. As she heard the sound of a string being snapped, Shizukesa bolted up, screamed bloody murder, when several layers of her aura were stripped, by the cut with Saturn's Glaive.

"You…" growled Shizukesa, getting up, her silver eyes clouded in pain, as she clutched at the flickering red crystal on her chest. She only became more like her mother, the Duchess Miriam, with age.

"Nice to see you again, Shizukesa, it seems to me that you are in violation of your banishment," spoke Sailor Saturn swinging her blade up to the woman's throat, the sharp end meeting with the soft flesh of her end, as a lone stream of blood started trickling down, it's red a stark contrast against her white skin.

Shizukesa glanced down at the crystal she was holding, and once more there was something terrifyingly familiar about it. But the only thing Saturn could bring from the depths of her mind, was a pair of brilliant red-orange eyes, framed by long red lashes, and a deep voice speaking to her, biding her to attack and hurt someone.

"I'm in violation of nothing," grinned the woman, "I am here to claim what should have been mine," she said, "You might have grown in power, but…" The threat in her voice was cue enough for Sailor Saturn to leap back, with the Silent Wall in front of her, as a massive field of dark power in a terrifying howl formed around Shizukesa as her opponent screamed something summoning her power, it all quieted down and then she charged screaming, "… Inflation!". Shizukesa rushed at the Senshi of Saturn, the sheer force of the energy behind it almost overwhelming her with the negative power. The dark power crackled and tore at her Silent Wall, almost decimating it, but with the push of all of her willpower Sailor Saturn managed to push the attack back.

And as the darkness cleared, Shizukesa was nowhere to be found.

* * *

"Did she escape?" yelled Venus, flying up to gain a higher vantage point.

Jupiter shook her head, "I haven't felt any portals opening," she replied.

Venus shook in anger, at herself, at the silver bitch: Usagi could be dead now if they let Heisei go. She could be ending their princess's life now. If they had failed their light, how would she be able to live on? Her fists clenched together tight, as she tried to pinpoint any trace of their enemy, but there was nothing.

The communicator went off. Ami. Thank Aphrodite, for Ami, she'd be able to help them track down Heisei and Usagi.

"Ami! We let Heisei get away, track her now!" exclaimed Venus, the moment she his the answer button.

"_No need, Heisei is out of the game, Saturn managed to kick her out, we're going to work on making sure no one can enter the game anymore, while Usagi is trapped, Setsuna should join us in this as well."_

So they didn't fail. That was a huge relief. She could now concentrate of finding Usagi, and if Hotaru and Setsuna were on the job of keeping Heisei out, until they managed to get Usagi safely out of the game, she could fulfill her duties in a much more orderly fashion.

Venus nodded, "Let us not waste anymore time then, which way to Usagi then?"

The communicator flashed, as coordinates began showing. It was the same direction into which Seto Kaiba had gone off, and now he had a bit of a lead on them…

"_Seto is a few dozen miles ahead, but he's currently held back by another member of the Big Five, I think the duel might end soon, but still I'd advise you when approaching that area, to avoid the duel zone, so as your powers do not get cancelled, by Noah's gaming rules." _

"Okay, then we'll be on our way," Venus confirmed. Her gaze shifted to the knocked out Diamond on whom Jupiter was checking up. It wasn't nice to leave him here, but there was no other choice. Usagi took priority.

Her decision made, Venus gave the orders:

"Inform the others, and have them take care of Diamond and then follow up on us," she nodded to Jupiter, "We'll be on our way. Inform both groups if there are changes."

"_Alright. Good luck!"_

"Thanks!"

And in a flash of orange and green the two Sailor Senshi sped off.

* * *

By the time they arrived at the place, where Mokuba and Usagi had been kidnapped, Diamond was slowly stirring, awakening from his knockout, a dark purple bruise forming on the side of his head, where he had been hit. Anzu immediately had ran to his side, helping him to sit up and checking whether he was alright.

It was evident even to a fool, that his brunette friend was avoiding Yami, the other Yugi, the other spirit who apparently was a spirit of a dead ruler. Five thousands years trapped in a puzzle, and then summoned only to fight the remnants of a magic only he and other's who used the mystical items, the Millennium Items. In a way, he had to finish fighting the battles that weren't finished in his last life.

As Diamond finally could form words, his first question was, "Where is Usagi?"

Anzu's shoulders tensed, but she still helped Diamond get up. Sighing, Jounoochi went over and helped the white-haired American duelist to hold his weight, it was sad: only an hour from the meltdown Anzu had in front of Yami, after which she was cruelly rejected, and even now, she has to first hear a reminder about her tragedy. Usagi. Usagi. Usagi.

It was funny, how all their lives became suddenly centered around the blonde girl. Even their little Scooby gang, it seemed that no matter where they went, no matter what happened nowadays, it was connected to Usagi.

Yami was part of the alliance, which she used to rule. Ryuji, the arrogant bastard was a general there as well. And Mai… that blonde vixen, was also part of it. The American duelist champion brothers: princes from a planet the humanity hadn't even discovered. It was just beyond ridiculous. Everything and everyone was connected to Usagi.

Some more than the others. He snuck a glance at Yami, who was pointedly ignoring Anzu, and keeping his distance from the brunette girl, much to her chagrin. And the moment Ryuji filled them in about Usagi's, Seto's, Venus's,. Jupiter's and Mokuba's location, he and the other dude, the tall dark handsome type, Endymion, ran off, without even consulting anyone.

He could see why Anzu would be pissed off about this. If he was in her position, he would be quite annoyed as well. But then, he could also understand Yami really well, if something were to happen to his little sister he would also go mental, and ignore everything else. And if there was something he knew: Yami had the hugest crush on the planet. Jounoochi wouldn't say in love quite yet, because… while many would say he's an idiot, he knew that love grew with time, and there were so many issues for those two.

The main one being of course, the fact that Yami was dead.

* * *

With his ultimate dragon facing the Satellite Cannon high in troposphere, Kaiba felt much more at ease. "Tell me," he said, "where is Mokuba?"

Daimon, who had yet to recover from the sudden turnaround of the duel, stumbled back, his head still crooked back, eyes fixated on the skies, where his 0 ATK Satellite Cannon faced the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Slowly he lowered his head and stared at him with an even expression, as much as Psycho Shocker's can be analyzed based on expressions. "Who knows?" whispered Daimon.

Kaiba blankly gazed at his opponent, until he flicked his wrist, and high up in the skies Satellite Cannon exploding, and the next second a beam of Burst Stream energy slammed into Daimon's monster form and incinerated every atom on his body. As the ashes of his enemy disappeared from the bridge, the distant sound of an approaching car did not register in Kaiba's brain, as the only thing that stuck was the distinct smell of burnt flesh.

* * *

**End Chapter 13**

* * *

**Chapter notes:**

(1) Hiro - Honda's general name in Silver Alliance times

* * *

_**Next Chapter Preview:**_

_"Come on, get up," the voice was quiet and urgent. But she didn't want to wake up yet. She was so tired. She could sleep for an eternity. She didn't want to wake up. The moment she would, she'd have to go and do things, save the world, manage the company, deal with her obsessive almost boyfriend, and she was far too tired._

_"You have to wake up, it's no time to rest now, I know you're much more tenacious than to lie knocked out for ages."_

_The voice that was talking to her seemed very familiar. She remembered this happening already once before. It was before they had planned out their final battles and a way to save their kingdom. She had to fight her enemy back home, the capital was decimated from them unleashing their power upon each other and while she could have ended it, she couldn't have. In the aftermath, when she had escaped, her black hair that seemed to be infinite receding after her, as she fled back to the dark dimension she inhabited, she had passed out. And his servant had come looking for her, because he himself couldn't have come, when he was protecting his own kingdom against that creature._

"Come on, Serenity, wake up_," His cloak had covered her shivering body. She had been laying on the cold marble floors for what it seemed like years, the cold of the space seeping into her flesh and bones, since the life systems of the dome were failing. She just hoped that everyone was safe._

"Come on Serenity, he's waiting. He has thought of a way_." And it was when she remembered the glint of his eyes, the haunting color that reminded her of freshly spilled blood, did her eyes finally open. Priest Set leaned above her and…_

_…and Seto helped her up, as the remnants of the memory escaped her mind, when the haze startled to clear. She was still tired. But she had to get up. Somewhere here, Noah had brainwashed Mokuba._

_"Mokuba, he's been brainwashed," breathed out Usagi, leaning on Seto, as he pulled her swiftly up. _

* * *

**The moment the reviews hit 156, I'm beginning to write the next chapter. :) Now off to finish the ANaIB chapter.**


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